


Hitchhiker

by morgancatlovey



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Common Sense, Developing Friendships, F/M, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Fluff, Humor, I can't help myself, Implied Past Relationships, Kind of an au?, M/M, Mainly Masky/Reader, Mystery, Plot twists all over the place, Reader-Insert, Resolved Sexual Tension, Revenge, Revisions have been made!, Sexual Humor, Special Abilities, Thrill, Updates Wednesday Evenings EST, but it's chill, control over plants, developed plot, eyeless jack - Freeform, lime-y stuff everywhere, new character villain, now that i think about it, original female character villain, polyrelationships, rewritten, slight Eyeless Jack/Reader, slight Hoodie/Reader, special eyes, update schedule, what?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2018-05-11 05:58:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 61
Words: 222,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5616262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgancatlovey/pseuds/morgancatlovey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As (Y/n) is driving back from work late one night, she picks up a young hitchhiker against her better judgment. He is odd and slightly rude, but also strangely kind in a weird sort of way- but just as they near their destination, she gets a deep sense of dread that makes her keep him around for a while longer, and being with this strange young man is inevitably what helps save her life. With him at her side, he helps to guide her forward after she stumbles into a gruesome and bloody fate that forever changes her way of life. And also with his help, her new life in a hidden world of supernatural beings, murder, betrayal, and love begins.</p><p>Warnings- This story is mainly Masky x Reader, but later on it becomes Masky x Reader x Hoodie, aaaand then has slight hints of Eyeless Jack x Reader before going back to normal. There are also some Masky x Hoodie and hints at a past few sexual encounters between the two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fog

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Lots of cussing in this story and some gore spots. When it comes to gore, I will tell you, but as for cussing, you can probably handle it. ENJOY!!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a lot of cussing strewn around and little gore spots, also with risque parts sandwiched in between. So when it comes to gore and smut, I will warn you, but cussing- I think you can handle that. I hope you enjoy! :)

I flick my hand up and set my right turn signal on as I exit off of the main road and onto the interstate. I blink, then shake my head at myself and flick it back off as I see that there are absolutely no cars on the interstate, or on the main road. I forget sometimes that around here, only a select few are still driving around at the "dead hours" of the night.

I'm heading home from the little shop I work at, which is only a couple of townships and about 20 minutes away from where I live. I've been working a bit too late to get my overtime hours in lately so I can scrape up a little more cash, but it doesn't really matter that I have been getting back so late because I live close enough anyway.

As I merge onto the abandoned interstate, I squint as I plunge into a dense fog that covers me on all sides. Remembering what to do from my driver's manual (miraculously) I flick off my brights and slow down a little so I don't hit anything too hard that I can't see in time. A vision of a deer running across the road in front of me flashes through my mind, and I feel a little dread creep up on me from it. I just got this car, and I really don't want to have to repair the damage with the money I have been desperately trying to save up. I also remember to turn my emergency blinkers on just in case some idiot comes flying up on my ass per usual, then turn my focus back onto the road.

Winding around corner after corner of the deserted stretch, I feel completely bored out of my mind with my car radio being broken and my phone laying next to me, dead- yet charging. I turn around yet another corner, but something actually catches my attention this time. I get a mini heart attack as the vision of the deer comes back to me, but I relax as I spot a lone hitchhiker in the side lane. It's not a much prettier sight, but at least they won't totally fuck up my new car- hopefully. I curiously look at the guy, wondering how he got out here in the middle of nowhere in the first place.   
He has a splotchy yellow jacket on over a black hoodie with the hood pulled up over his head and a pair of faded grey skinny jeans that seem to hug in all of the right places from what I can see. I quirk an eyebrow at myself. I must be desperately bored if I'm checking out hitchhikers on the side of the road. I laugh a little at myself but instantly freeze as he turns around to face me. I do a creeped out double take as I see a white mask covering his face from view. It looks like it is painted with black feminine features from where I am, and I take in the possibility of him coming from some type of Halloween party, but it is weeks away and his outfit looks a little too unintentionally ragged for something like that. He tiredly holds out his thumb and looks like he has almost given up pleading for a ride, but he straightens up a little hopefully as he sees my car through the dense fog.

I weigh the possibilities in my mind for a second. I feel like I should help him because there aren't any other cars that will be coming by for a long while, but then again, he’s wearing that creepy ass mask and ax murderer get up, so it goes against my better judgement. I know I shouldn't pick up hitchhikers- especially ones that look as shady as him. He might try to kill me for all I know.

I begrudgingly pass by him and try to push him out of my mind. I pretend I don't notice him take a few running steps toward my car in my rearview mirror and focus my eyes on the road again. I tell myself that it is too late and all I can do is to hope that someone else picks him up, because he looked pretty dead.

'Well they don't call it the dead hours for nothing.' I laugh at my own thought, trying to get myself to forget about it and push my guilt out of my mind, but my playfulness fades away instantly as I move my eyes back to the road after turning around the bend.

"Wait, what the hell?" I mutter aloud. As I look back at the road I see the masked teen standing there again with the same tired stature and pleading gaze that follows me as I move along the road. I grit my teeth as he meets my eyes and jerk my gaze away from him, determined to pretend like he isn't there. As I pass him by, I guiltily peek into my rear view mirror only to see him glaring straight at me.

Thinking I either severely fucked up or I was severely fucked over by fate anyway, I push the gas pedal a little harder and round the bend again. My eyes worriedly snap to the side lane again, and I sigh with sheer relief as I don't spot any murderous looking hitchhiker there. When I put my eyes back on the road again, my heart jumps into my throat from shock. Through the fog I can see him standing about 20 feet away from the front of my car with a very pissed off aura about him.

I snap out of my shocked and panicked state and slam my foot on the breaks, gritting my teeth in fear of hitting him. I jolt to a stop mere inches from his front, my headlights searing through the fog to shine upon the young man again and remind me of how unnerving his mask and outfit is. He crosses his arms and pops his hip out, lightly tapping his fingers on his arm. If I could see his face under that God-forsaken mask, I bet there would be an annoying ass smirk.

I roll down the window just a crack and immediately jerk my fingers forward to press the button that locks all of the doors as a safeguard, just in case he tries to come any closer. My panic morphs into anger the longer I stare at him, and I find myself getting more and more scared by the second.

"What the hell is wrong with you, dumbass?! You're goddamn lucky I saw you in time or you would have not only been reduced to roadkill, but you would have fucked over my car as well." I growl, but instantly feel a little bad- even though the guy probably isn't even human because he managed to teleport like three fucking times just to try and hitch a ride. I bring a hand up to my face, feeling my heart constricting my throat again. "Why the hell were you in the middle of the fucking road- and nonetheless on a fucking interstate?" I scold him, but still somehow sound incredibly relieved that he was okay- kind of like a mom using colorful language to talk to a reckless child.

"Needed a ride, what does it look like? You're the only person who has passed by in like three hours." He grumbles; his voice muffled a bit by the mask. It makes me realize just how quiet the world around me is right now and sets me even more on edge- which is just fantastic.

"Wonder-fucking-ful dude. But really, do you expect me to trust a, what, twenty year old (?) out here in the middle of the night- that I don't even know, might I add- and just let them into my car? I mean, jeez buddy, it really doesn't help that I can't even see your face. Did you think I would just open up my fucking door and give you a blanket and a cup of coffee saying 'welcome, random ass dude, make yourself at home'? You could murder me, or... worse!" I know I'm rambling, but I don't care- he's scaring the shit out of me, and I'm just trying to distract him so he at least gets out of my way.

The guy freezes and stares straight at me as I say my last sentence. My brave, angry face breaks and turns into a nervous scowl as I shrink back into the more shadowy part of my car and place my hand over the shift so I can back up if I need to.

He keeps picking me apart with his stare- not moving even an inch as he scrutinizes my features behind that damned mask. I decide that I should probably get the fuck outta here as quickly as possible, but before I can put my car into reverse, he mutters something so quietly that I barely even hear it even with the complete silence hanging over us.

"Good, at least she's not a fangirl..."

I immediately make a confused face and wonder what the hell he is talking about, but my heart stalls for a second as he starts walking to my passenger side window, pushing through the white tendrils of fog dragging along his jacket and jeans.

"Just- listen... please let me in, I just... I need to get back home. I don't even know where I am, or I would walk, okay? I'll even take off the mask if you want me to so badly..." He moves his hands around in the air a bit, and half pleads with me, signalling his defeat. I let myself stop and scrutinize his every move and word with a confused and accusing glare. He lets his arms slump down to his sides and sighs as he is left powerless except to watch me decide. I'm just a bit surprised because it actually seems like his pleading manner is for real- but it highly contrasts with the impression I first got from him. I only allow myself to come out of my thoughts when I see his mask move slightly as he tries not to look annoyed.

I let out a hard sigh and hold my hand to my slightly throbbing temple. 'I can-not believe I'm doing this.'

"Fine, just take the mask off... and turn all of your pockets inside out so I can make sure you don't have any weapons..." I growl with a defeated and tired look.

His mood seems to brighten a little, and he reaches up and slowly slips off the mask, knocking his hood off in the process. He threads a hand through his hair a little bit to fix it, then looks into my gaze with a slightly annoyed, but mostly exhausted expression. I can't help but gasp a little as I take in his features, but thankfully he doesn't hear me. He has messy brown hair and a clean shaven face that shows the slight outline of his high cheekbones. He has dark purple rings under his greyish brown eyes, but they still look somewhat bright despite the dull tired glaze over his irises. But seriously, if he's a ghost that’s come to kill me, I might just be fine dying by the hands of such a hot guy.

He stares at me for a second more, then looks down and slips his hands into his jacket pockets and rummages around in them, then unzips the jacket and brings the bottom of his hoodie up a little bit to show me he doesn't have anything in his waistband, but my eyes just end up fixed at the sharp edges of the defined V that slips just below the waist of his jeans. He only breaks my gaze when he turns and holds up both the jacket and the hoodie to show me the back of his waist, and then drops them down and pulls his back pockets out, but again, I'm focused more on the curve of his ass than his pockets. The thought of what I'm doing sends a little blush to the tips of my ears. I shake my head to clear my thoughts, then replace my bashful half-grin with a neutral frown before he turns around and spots it.

"Fine... I'll let you in- but if you try anything, I have, like, three cans of pepper spray in here..."

I reach into my console and grab one of the said pepper spray cans, then I move my hand a little and hit the lock/unlock button, still never letting my eyes leave him for even a millisecond. I hear the quiet 'click' of the door unlocking, which sounds painstakingly close to a gunshot in this silence, and wait with bated breath and pepper spray at the ready as I let this possible murderer into my safe haven.

He reaches his hand up to the door handle as slow as possible like I'm a skittish animal, then opens it with the same slowness and swings himself inside to sits down. His eyes stay trained on mine with a distrusting look that mirrors my own as he watches the pepper spray out of the corner of his eye.

I grit my teeth for a second, my hands fidgeting a little from nervousness, but I take a deep breath and open my mouth to speak. "So... where do you need to go?" I murmur without any suspicion hidden away from my tone.

"I need to head over to (y/township) and from the exit I can show you the way."

"... Alright." And with that, I make sure my car is in drive and my pepper spray is accessible before placing both hands back on the heel and pushing back down on the gas.

Masky's POV

I sigh with obvious annoyance and turn my head to look out of the window. 'I can't believe I just hitched a ride from someone. But... at least she was smart enough to be cautions of me though... and she isn't even a fangirl- so I guess it's a bit of a win win?' I roll my eyes at myself and see her eyeing me through the reflection in the window.

I look back at her, and watch her almost snap her neck trying to hide her staring. Even if I hadn't already caught her, the way her earring is swinging immediately tells me she just jerked her head back to facing forward. I look down at my hand and clench it into a fist, then let it relax again. I want to feel angry, but I feel myself getting worried- and it makes me even more frustrated.  
I didn't think it was possible, but only a couple of hours ago I was making my way back from a big hunt that Slenderman had been organizing and planning for months. He mapped out exactly who we needed to kill, and what paths to take to get into the houses the people lived in. After making my way into the forest, everything suddenly went practically quiet and the inner compass that allows me to find the house through all of our visual and mental defenses went haywire for a second, then I lost it completely. It felt like all of my senses just suddenly shut down- which should never happen to someone that has been a CP for over a year. By then, you have all of your abilities and your body is physically used to using them all of the time instead of just in random adrenalistic spurts. You have to train you body to it. But it doesn't explain how they could have suddenly disappeared and left me wandering around for two hours.  
I clench my fists again and try to concentrate on increasing my hearing to where I can tell exactly what pace her heart is beating at, but after twenty seconds of nothing I give up the physical strain. I can barely hear her breathing, but at least I’m left with some of Slender’s borrowed teleportation power, although it is incredibly weak. I catch her giving me a weird look out of the corner of her eye and shifting her body away from me, so I resort to looking back through my window for some sort of landmark.   
A little pang of recognition goes through me as I see a dilapidated shack just barely through the trees as she starts to go up an incline. From here I can pinpoint where I ended up. 'I've somehow made it up on the North side... so I guess where I thought I was heading- to the house- wasn't really where I was going. But even so, I thought I had things mapped out. Something's just completely wrong.' I grate my teeth together in slight anger. 'How could I be so stupid? I should know the way.'

My face scrunches up into a pissed look that I really don't feel like hiding, even though she looks like she might ask about it from how her expression is getting more worried by the second.

"So... how did you get stuck on the road out in the middle of nowhere, if you don't mind me asking..." I let out a laugh through my nose. I knew she was gonna ask something.

"None of your fucking business." I growl, but can't help smirking as she shuts her mouth and looks away. Maybe she'll just shut up and leave me alone now. 

"Damn... just trying to be nice... I am driving you... wherever you're going after all, and I still have this pepper spray that's just calling your name right about now."

"I don't like nosy people." I say sternly. 'If Hoodie were here I would let him be friendly. I don't want to deal with this shit. How does he do it?' Truthfully though, something about how comfortable I feel around her right now is just unnerving me on top of the fact that I'm lacking my usual defenses, but I'd rather die than admit that she is having any affect on me at all.

"Well fuck you too then...." She angrily mutters, turning around a corner with a frown setting into her lips and brow.

'Great, now she's pissed. Great going idiot.' I cross my arms and huff. "Look, I'm sorry... I'm just- I'm just mad that I got myself lost. That's why I was stuck out there." I mumble. God, I hate apologizing, but it slips out of my mouth before I can think to even be rude, which makes my eyes widen in shock. I furrow my eyebrows and gnaw at the inside of my cheek, shaking my head a couple of times to get myself back to normal. 'I can't feel comfortable with her- I've already messed up enough shit for today. I just can't get close to her; I'll have to kill her soon to clear up loose ends...'

Your POV and Time Skip

"Hey, um I need to go pick up some groceries after this, my parents asked me to before I left for work, but I forgot my list, and where you've told me you need to go is literally just a neighborhood next to mine, so... do you care if I stop at my house," ‘and grab a gun,’ "and grab it?" I don't really know why I bring it up, but something is tugging at my consciousness and telling me to get home ASAP. This guy seems harmless enough, and is most likely no match for my extensive self defense training- courtesy of a protective father- but I still feel wary of him.

"Sure, whatever."

I peek at him again through the corner of my eye. His expression has turned a little more sad than what it used to be, and the annoyed tone is almost completely replaced by a soft, almost sad tone that he adopted about halfway through the car ride. He plays with the strap of his mask absentmindedly as it lays in his lap and holds one of his fingers against his mouth like he is thinking. 'Well, at least he's not being a total dick, and he has been pretty chill this whole time for a roadside ax murderer lookalike...'

About a while back, I got him to let his guard down, and he has been opening up to me a little bit- slowly but surely.

"Will you finally tell me your name?" I ask in a soft, caring tone.

He turns his head a little and gives me a sideways glance. "...It's Masky. Yours?" He actually sounds like he cares this time, so I smile at what little progress I have made.

"(Y/n). Nice name." I joke, and give him a huge shit eating grin.

"Oh, shut the hell up." He rolls his eyes and lightly elbows my arm as it rests on the console. I laugh and fake a hurt look.

"Owww, that so hurt." I mumble sarcastically and rub my arm a couple of times as the sensor rigged cameras on the sides of my car keep me inside the line of the road.

He lightly laughs with me, then props his head up on his hand as he sets his elbow on the ledge to his right, looking out the window thoughtfully as we exit off of the interstate. My smile fades as I see that the somber look returns to his eyes and drags down his face.

I slow down and turn into my small neighborhood a couple of minutes later, the comfortable air fading a little bit as I notice that all of the lights are off in the houses we pass. Usually at least Ms. Richards is up reading around this hour, or the twins Cailin and Kalum are up giggling at random stories they tell to each other near a tiny lit candle on their windowsill, but everything is unnaturally quiet and dark.

I shake my head and try to write it off as it just being late, but it sticks in the back of my mind like an unwanted splinter. Even if it is late, at least some people should be up and moving in the suburbs. I turn into my fog covered driveway with an unnerved look and put the car in park, looking around us for a second before turning to Masky.

"You can wait here or come inside, whichever you prefer..." I shift my eyes around again and lightly wrap my hand around the pepper spray as I shove my phone in my back pocket. "My parents and sister should be asleep by now, so we'll have to be quiet, and I don't know if they turned the alarms on or what, so we'll have to maneuver around a bit carefully."

He looks up at me and quirks his eyebrows at my expression, then sighs and pushes his car door open. I think he notices my nervousness from the look he gives me, but I can't complain, I'm kind of glad he's coming with me, even though I was scared of him minutes ago.

As he shuts the door and walks towards the front of the car with his hands in his pockets, he suddenly stops and stands completely rigid. I grip the pepper spray and the handle of my car in a death grip as I watch him, but he just looks up at my house, then looks down the street, and then back up to the house with an alarmed look.

It scares the shit out of me, but I slink out of the car all the same. I feel a little more uneasy with every moment as I see his scared state, but hurriedly walk to the porch. Maybe this was a bad idea, but something makes me need to see my family okay with every rapid beat of my heart.

Masky just keeps standing there where I left him, looking at the door with a shaken expression as I walk up to him and stop. I open my mouth to ask him what is wrong, and almost think against it with the even more intense want to get into my house and near some weapons, but end up asking him anyway.

Masky's POV

"Is... everything alright?" (Y/n) asks- her voice quivering slightly.

I jump a little as she asks me, knocking me out of my trance as my head snaps towards her. My senses aren't back to normal yet, but I'm getting a really bad feeling from this street, and from what her expression looks like, she is too.

I take a deep breath and calm my expression so I don't scare her even more, but something still rubs me the wrong way. Nothing should set me on such an edge. Maybe I should just run- but for some reason I feel like I should stay with her.

"Y-yeah, just got a chill..." I try to act like I'm shrugging it off.

She gives me a weird look that says 'I don't believe you, but whatever I'm creeped out as shit so let's go' then nods her head halfheartedly and walks past me. She digs her keys out of her purse then inserts them into the lock as she reaches the door, turning it and quickly unlocking it.

I look around again for good measure to try and see anything out of the ordinary, like someone hiding in the shadows, but I don't see anything at first glance. As I go to turn back around, something catches my eye from another house. My eyes widen as I spot the top window of the house across the street. It is dark, but I can clearly see that there is something in between the bottom of the windowpane and the sliding window; a human head. Blood leaks onto the side paneling below the window in fresh rivers. I hurriedly try to focus my hearing on the house, and manage to just barely get something, albeit painfully.

"Where's that fuckin' girl, Jess? There was another one, you know the really pretty fucker of the two girls in the livin' room."

"I'll check the last house. She must'a hid there. Get Ben and Jake and meet me over there. And- wait, was 'at porch light on before?"

"Nah, we went in and out through da back, remember dumbass?"

I whip around to see that (Y/n) has gone into the house, and I run up the porch behind her, pulling my mask out and preparing myself for a fight. I need to find a weapon and quick.

As I run in, I stop for a second and let myself take in the gory scene in front of me, my feet freezing in place.

"No, oh my god..." She whispers to herself with shock written all over her face, the only sound between us besides the incredibly loud klang of her pepper spray slamming into the floor, completely forgotten now.


	2. The Birth of Insanity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Very large depiction of blood and gore. Also some sensitive material. It all goes with the story so you can't really skip it.
> 
> A/N: The picture is what I thought of, but my version in the story is a little simpler. Oh, and it's a bit of a short chapter, sorry 'bout that.

WARNING: Very large depiction of blood and gore. Also some sensitive material. It all goes with the story so you can't really skip it.  
A/N: The picture is what I thought of, but my version in the story is a little simpler. Oh, and it's a bit of a short chapter, sorry 'bout that. 

 

Your POV:

 

I only slightly feel Masky grabbing my arm as I blankly stare at the sight before me. The room is practically bathed in thick, fresh blood, and the stench of death hangs in the room like the humid air of a summer night. A sob escapes through my lips as I see my parents and little sister sitting on the couch in front of me, bloodied and bruised with their arms and legs bound and their bodies limp, contorted at unnatural joints.

 

I squint and peer closer, my emotions absent for a second and overshadowed only by simple curiosity because my brain seems to have been overloaded and crashed, leaving only that. The first thing I notice is that their tongues have been cut out. My sister's head is tilted forward slightly, the blood from her severed tongue trickling out and covering her lips in a thick layer of sticky red lipstick. I can tell with one look that the skirt she is wearing has no underwear beneath them anymore. The hem is slightly turned up and wrinkled and as I spot a small trail of half-dried blood winding in little rivers down her bent legs, my eyes widen in anger and shock as my brain powers back on. Rape. Whoever they were, they raped my 11 year old sister, and even worse, right in front of the fresh corpses of her parents. In that moment I hope just and pray that she was already dead before they did that to her for her sake, just so she didn't have to die feeling so ashamed, in pain, and helpless. I can also only hope that my parents weren't alive to see their baby getting defiled... I feel my legs shuddering beneath me from a mixture of horror, shock, sadness, and anger, and my brain feels like it crashes again.

 

I then notice that all of their eyes had been scooped out of their skulls and taken somewhere. Their ears have also been hacked off, and little shreds of flesh cling to the matted and bloody hair around where their ears used to be.

 

A symbol is carved into every one of their foreheads: a drawing of three skeleton heads on top of one another. The top one is covering its eyes with its bony hands, the second one is covering its ears with its own hands, and the last one is covering its mouth. Their eye sockets are black with thick, fresh beads of blood, and their mouths are all slightly propped open from what I can tell.

 

I look past them for the first time since walking in, unable to take looking at them anymore and disrespecting them after death, but as soon as I do, I see a message written in blood along the wall a few feet behind them.

 

'They saw and heard evil, so before they could speak it, we shut them up!'

 

"What... did they know?" I mutter blankly to myself, all emotion absent from my words.

 

I just barely feel Masky grabbing my arm even tighter, but when he pulls it forward, I'm harshly jerked back into reality. I notice the feeling of warm tears silently streaming down my face that I hadn't felt before, just because my body was so numb from shock.

 

Masky pulls me past the couch my parents sit on and through the doorway to the kitchen, then he jerks his head around for a second before tugging me over and shoving me into one of the cupboards under the sink.

 

As he pull himself in next to me and shuts the wooden door, he holds a finger to the lips of his mask. I can't help but wonder when he put it on and why in my semi-conscious state of mind. I can't take the reality of my family's death yet, and my brain is trying to save itself from further damage until I can. I look down and spot a large, stainless steel kitchen knife in his hand and my mind wakes up a little bit. Then I hear it- the loud footfalls of what sounds like a burly man coming from the front porch.

 

"Dammit, don't tell me she escaped! That DUMBASS Ben, he should'a come after her instead of going after that old bitch. She wouldn't 'ave gotten that far."

 

I hear a slight scratching noise from across the room and lean towards the middle of the cupboards to look through the crack. There is a young girl- about 15 years old- trying her best to get to the laundry room door as quietly as possible. I feel my heart drop in my chest. I know that the door will be locked, and the murderer is just around the corner. She is going to die. Masky shakes me a little bit, signaling me not to do anything, but right now all I can do anyway is stare in my removed state.

 

It happens way too quickly. A huge, heavyset man rounds the corner just as she reaches the knob and turns it, dread washing over her face as she realizes it is locked. She doesn't even get to take a step forward to run away before the man picks her up by her delicate neck and holds her against the door. He raises her up a bit more so her feet hang limply under her, then he takes out a knife, and in one slash, he cuts into her neck so deep that her head nearly comes off. Fifteen years of life, gone in less than a second. He disgustingly grins and licks his cracked and sticky lips before throwing her to the floor next to him with a sickening crack. I see my eyes rapidly go in and out of focus as I stare at her body on the floor, her mouth still twitching with the ghost of a scream.

 

"Hehe, stupid little bitch, you should have run into the woods. At least you could've lived just a lil' bit longer. Then I could've tortured you like these lil' shits here! Maybe me an' the boys could'a gotten a little pleasure from you too..." He chuckles darkly and rubs his hand over his crotch a couple of times, staring down at his work. Bile rises in my throat like a wave of searing acid, but I manage to keep it down only by a feeling that snaps inside of me and causes my vision to suddenly stop focusing in and out.

 

The feeling shoots through me like an electric shock, then builds in pressure and intensity until I feel like I might explode from it. Rage boils up inside of me along with another feeling that I can't quite place in the moment.

 

All of the sudden, a string of soft giggling slips from my mouth along with more hot tears that flow freely from my eyes and trail down my cheeks, dripping like acid on my skin. My hearing sharply increases like someone turned a knob inside my brain to full volume, and it makes me cringe a little at first, but I quickly get used to it as I focus on the feeling of adrenaline flooding through me vein by vein. I feel so... giddy, for some reason, and that makes my light giggling turn into full on unhindered laughter.

 

My hand snaps out and grabs the knife from Masky's hand, and I feel my open mouthed smile widen even as the pain of grabbing the blade sears through my hand, and I also feel my eyesight vertically stretch, then widen at the edges a little bit so they morph into large slits. Masky stares incredulously at me with a surprised and terrified expression from what I can see in his eyes out of the corner of mine. It fuels me even more, seeing as the one I was afraid of only an hour earlier is terrified of me.

 

I shove my arms forward and slam open the doors of the cabinet, grinning as they splinter and fall off of their hinges from the force. In the same moment, I tumble out and shoot up onto my feet to send the knife in my hand reeling through the air at breakneck speed towards the murderer's head- landing it in the shoulder of his shirt and sticking halfway into the wall. He turns his head towards me, his face fear stricken.

 

I make a fist, hearing all of my knuckles pop as I ready myself for a fight. A little spark of clear thought sticks out in my mind as I hear thick globs of my blood fall to the floor from my hand like waves of thunder in my ears. I finally place this wonderful feeling- the feeling that fills me with such excitement and power. Insanity. And I think I like it!


	3. Animal I Have Become

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Song reference in the title much? Not really. Enjoy! XD

I charge forward and cover his mouth with the hand that is gushing blood to prevent him from screaming. I then yank the stainless steel kitchen knife I had wedged into the wall out and stab his opposite shoulder with it, effectively trapping his sorry ass. He tries his best to scream and kick me away, but to no avail, I can barely even feel his little kicks. I smile as I spot a large knife sticking out of his pocket, reaching down and taking it out at an excruciatingly slow pace, then sliding the tip up to his quivering Adam's apple with the same speed. He whimpers slightly against my hand, but then decides that he is a brave little fucker and growls at me.

"You scream and you won't have your tiny dick any longer. Now, be a good little shit and tell me how many more of you there are." I spit. I slowly peel my palm from his chapped lips. Disgusting.

"I ain't fuckin' tellin' you bitch! How dare you insult my dick!" He squeaks, causing me to roar in laughter.

Composing myself, I smirk and start trailing the tip of the knife slowly back down his collarbone, eliciting a tiny squeal from him as I start twisting it in as I move.

"OKAY, OKAY- there are five of us. Pleaseletmego!"

"Really now, was it that hard? Now please tell me how many were killed in this little excursion here." I purr and give him a devilish smile.

"You fuckin' bitch..."

I smack my hand over his mouth again and ready my blade, thumbing the ridges on the rubber grip of the knife before plunging it into his sternum, causing him to groan, unable to scream. I leave the knife sticking there and punch him in the jaw. I feel my knuckles bruise on impact, but I don't really care right now. The other knife tears into his shoulder a little more as he tries to evade the attack and fails, floundering in the air.

"Answer me!" I scare myself slightly. My voice changes into two dual voices. One is my own, and one is much deeper, making me sound demonic.

The man in front of me starts shaking like a dead leaf. Tears trickle freely down his face as I smile slightly.

"The whole block is dead..."

My smile fades into a scowl. At that moment I realize that killing him won't be enough. I would have to torture him for months to get honest revenge, but it seems I have very little time right now. I hear a few pairs of boots hitting the asphalt from a little farther away and feel Masky touch my arm slightly. Correction, we have no time right now. I have to wrap this up and quick.

"So, you feeling remorseful now? I won't kill you... yet. Expect me, though. I'll visit soon." I playfully murmur my last sentence in the dual tones, then slam my fist into the side of his head, effectively knocking him out.

I leave his unconscious, bleeding, and bruised body for his friends to find. I then turn and grab Masky's arm, pulling him behind me as I sprint out the back door and start to head towards the forest for cover.

I make sure to avoid the light sensor on the back porch as I scurry into the shadows with him in tow, and when I get to the corner of the house, I spot a group of three men casually walking across the street. I can already make out the pungent smell of blood and sweat from where I stand, and I have to cover my mouth to keep from gagging. I look up again and memorize their features until they exit my range of sight.

With their faces fresh in my mind, I turn and hold my fingers up to signal when to run. Masky nods and hunkers into a ready stance, still slightly shell shocked from the scene he just witnessed.

On three, we bolt for the trees and deep into the forest. I feel like I could run a thousand miles on the adrenaline coursing through my veins, but I make sure to keep with Masky's pace so I don't lose him. We hop over tree roots and dodge the trees at breakneck speed until we come to a large field of wildflowers deep into the brush. I feel myself trip and roll as I go to stop, but my brain wants me to keep going to avoid thinking about what just happened. I tumble into the flowers, rolling to a hard stop right in the middle and slumping into the ground, my heart finally ready to let the ache of intense emotions over my family's murder and my sudden physical changes crash into me like a deadly maelstrom that I have no way of avoiding anymore.

"God... damn it..." I whisper as I slump even further into the soft petals. It is about the only thing I can form into a sentence, but it sounds like I yelled it into a canyon as it reaches my ears.

I try my best not to scream and yell because I know I will end up hurting my now sensitive ears and drawing unwanted attention, but I end up letting out choked sobs that leave my throat throbbing in pain and pitiful whimpers that tear themselves from my heart instead. I feel Masky sit down next to my shuddering body and rest his hand on my thigh. I look at him slightly through blurred tears and peer into the eyes of his mask, seeing his soft eyes through the mesh.

I honestly can’t believe he is still with me after seeing me like that. Everything about what just happened back there with me is inhuman. ‘Why didn’t he run away?’ I think. I would have let him go- after all, I wouldn’t want to be around me if I were him after that display. But for some reason, he seems completely calm and collected as he gives me a warm look.

He reaches up and takes his mask off again, then puts it down next to his crossed legs and holds his arm out for me. I stare at him for a second, then push myself up a little and lean into his sturdy chest, allowing him to comfort me as shuddering breaths rack through my already shivering form. I’ll take what little comforting I can get- after all, I have no one else to do it anymore.

Masky's POV

I break through the trees just as she does and watch her allow herself to fall, rolling painfully into the mass of flowers. I take the second to let my thoughts catch up to me as I lean against a tree for stability. That was really intense for me to watch, and I almost felt like I wasn't supposed to see something like that- it feels almost perverted to see her in such a private moment. I saw a face that was once full of kindness swell up with so much explosive anger and excitement in a matter of seconds. To see someone go crazy like that- there's no perfect way to describe it... it's just absolutely amazing and... somehow intimate to see a buried and secret side of her suddenly be unleashed.

I look at her now as my labored breaths course through me. Heart-wrenching sobs tear from her throat as she finally lets it catch up to her. I can only think that I need to get her to the house as soon as possible so she can be safe in the moment, though. We need to be far away from here by the time the cops show up. 

I cringe a little as I hear her voice crack from holding back, and take a second. I'm not used to taking breaks or something this bad happening around me- and obviously I'm not very in tune to my emotions- so I feel a little lost on what to do. It pulls at me that we need to get going soon... but I guess it couldn't hurt to take a breather right now. Especially since I'm not used to running this much without my added abilities on top of all of that. I trudge through the softly swaying lilacs and stoop down to sit next to her shuddering, weak looking form half hidden by the grass. It hits me that she might actually need to take a breather a whole lot more than I do, and I feel a bit insensitive for not realizing it. After all, I can't remember when I snapped or what made me snap in the first place, much less how bad it was.

I suck in a sharp breath as I hear her trying hard to choke back her sobs even though it is obviously causing her pain from the way she is shaking. For some reason, I feel a hard pang in my chest. To see her at her weakest after what just happened makes me... want to help her? It's almost a foreign feeling to me; I haven't felt it in so long. I reach a hand out and hesitantly stop, but then continue to reach out to her again. She did try to help me earlier, after all- the screw up of the century. 

I gently place my hand on her thigh. Her breath hitches and she jerks her head to looks up into my eyes. They look fearful for a second, but then mix into sadness. I can tell that the mask makes her feel a little uncomfortable still, so I slide the band that holds it in place off and pull it away, setting it down next to my legs and hesitantly opening my arms for her.

She looks a little shocked, and then grateful, then picks herself up to lean into my embrace. I can smell the lavender shampoo on her hair as she leans her head into the crook of my neck, and it mingles with the pollen from the flowers on her skin. I'm just glad she has started to calm down. I can still feel her hot tears drip off of her face and slide down my neck though, and it's kind of a weird feeling- especially when the air cools them down as they trickle down my shoulders and into my hoodie.

I feel warm inside for the first time since I can remember. I actually feel... happy I think... that someone has gotten this close to me other than Hoodie. Usually I would push people away and try to scare them off, but she gives off an extremely comforting vibe that I don't think I have ever felt so strongly of in my life, which is probably why I let her in so fast.

All of the sudden, her head snaps up off of me and she looks around frantically, her pupils vertically flattening into slits before stretching outwards, covering most of her iris. She stops moving them around and locks onto one place near the trees, then sniffles a little to clear up her nose and turns her ear towards that direction while keeping her eyes trained on it through her peripheral vision.

"What... is it?" I whisper quietly. I feel thoroughly confused, because I can't find anything wrong. She gives me a fierce glare and looks like she might attack me for a second for talking, then her eyes snap towards the trees again.

She stands up and faces towards it. Her mouth twitches and she lets out a deep, rumbling sound that seems to have two split tones behind it, just like earlier. A scowl forms on her face and she tenses up, furrowing her eyebrows and getting into a defensive position.

It suddenly hits me that my senses aren't properly working, and I scramble up from the grass to stand next to her, preparing to fight.

"Come out..." she growls in a deep voice that manages to send goosebumps along my skin.

The bushes and vines slowly pull apart and I move my foot forward, ready to swing if necessary, but my body freezes with shock. A disbelieving yet wry grin works its way onto my lips and I lower my hands, putting one in front of her.

"Hoodie." I murmur with relief.


	4. The Dusty Path

**Your POV**

 

The guy moves a couple of steps forward with his hands raised in defense, then looks completely taken aback for a second. I match his look as I feel Masky put a hand in front of me, trying to hold me back. Before I can say anything, the guy speaks up. "Masky! Where the _hell_ were you?!" His voice sounds deep, but still young. I glance at Masky questioningly.

 

I can see Masky squirm and give a sheepish look towards the man. Masky moves his hand up and nervously ruffles up his already messy brown hair. I quirk my eyebrows and look towards the person in the black and red face mask again. I almost laugh as I equate this to a lovers' quarrel, and let myself relax. They are obviously friends.

 

But seriously, did he just call him 'Hoodie'? 'What is with these names?' I think bemusedly. 'What kind of mother names their kid Hoodie?' I know that it's some type of crappy alias- I'm just trying to joke with myself- although I wonder why they won't tell me their real names.

 

I see Hoodie's mask look towards me for a split second then turn away quickly.

 

"W-who's she?" He asks in a shaky and soft voice, completely different from what it was before. He holds his pointer finger shyly up towards me, but still has that accusative and serious tone behind it.

 

"This is (Y/n). (Y/n) meet Hoodie."

 

"A pleasure..." I say suspiciously as I stretch my hand forward for him to shake.

 

He stares at my hand for a second before slowly moving forward and taking it. I feel his silky glove brush up against my now rough, blood crusted hand and interlock with it. He gives it a small shake, and then retreats his hands to behind his back. I feel myself wanting to hold onto his hand again, it feels almost as smooth and comforting as Masky's, and it feels nice against the burning of the wound on my palm. I shake my head at my thoughts, just, something about him makes me feel like I should be able to trust him- but I write it off. With the lingering effects of that sudden flux of insanity, I can't tell whether my mind is sound and perceiving things correctly at all.

 

Hoodie rocks on his heels and glances towards Masky nervously. Masky gives him a smirk and reaches down to grab his mask again. He pulls the strap behind his head and situates it so it is concealed by his hair, then peers over at Hoodie and nods. He brushes a few wet flower petals and grass off of the back of his pants and motions me to follow Hoodie. I absentmindedly pick off the remaining flower petals strewn about my clothes, but start to walk behind both of them.

 

We start to walk West from my house from what I can tell, and I end up trying to stay right next to Masky as we maneuver our way out of the clearing and along a winding forest path, which seems to have been used plenty of times before because of the lack of plants and the dirt worn earth. I feel my shoes push into the cushion-like moss under my feet as I walk just off of the path to stay right next to Masky. The night air whispers to the leaves in the trees and blows its cool breath down my neck. I shiver and feel goosebumps start to spread as I notice the rips in my clothes that I must have acquired from my insanity spree or accidentally hitting branches on the way here. I shudder again as a stronger gust of wind blows my hair off of my shoulder, then travels down my shirt.

 

'Fuck you, stupid wind.' I glare at the ground as I think.

 

I can hear the soft crunching of the branches and the fallen dead leaves of early Fall under our feet. We stay in silence, but it is far better than disturbing the peace in the forest, from what I think. That, and I'm trying to kind of test out the weird eye abilities and hearing capabilities that seem to be sticking. It takes more than a bit of getting used to when you can hear every single breath the people around you are taking.

 

I look around a little and feel my heart warm as I remember the picnics I would have with my little sister in here. We would bring a warm blanket and watch the sunset go down from a hill near our house, then giggle the whole way back as we accidentally ran into trees or told crappy ghost stories to scare ourselves silly. As soon as I remember seeing her broken and molested- left to slowly die, I feel another crack form on my already broken heart- internally cringing at the noise.

 

I would let my tears fall, but I can't cry anymore. My eyes are swollen and probably have puffy pink bags under them by now. My body feels filthy and my clothes are in serious disarray, and I can already feel crust starting to form where the blood is drying on my torso now too. I must look like a murderous hobo. When I start to think about it, I feel a little embarrassed that both Hoodie and Masky are seeing me this way.

 

I wrap my arms around my trembling figure to try and keep myself warm. The wind unrelentingly blows on my skin and I find myself throwing a few more silent curses into it. Torn clothes are not the best idea for a midnight stroll.

 

My eyes stay on the ground where I can see Hoodie's dusty black Converse stepping over every limb. Masky nudges my shoulder with a cold and calloused hand, making my shivering even worse and my teeth chatter. I gaze up at him, watching as he holds his jacket out to me with one hand, and holds his black hoodie in his other hand. He must have gotten hot, and I see that he is wearing a white undershirt as I take the jacket from him. From there I can see many scars strewn about his arms and around his collar bone, then I jerk my eyes up when I detect a faint outline of abs showing through his shirt.

 

I give him a halfhearted smile and nod my head a little bit in thanks. He looks away again as he ties his hoodie around his waist, and I can see his ears turn a light shade of pink as it looks like he tries to keep a serious air. I disregard it and slide the warm jacket over my shoulders, shivering for one last time. It radiates his body heat straight into me and comforts me almost instantly. It even smells strongly of him, and calms my saddened and still shaken state of mind, but I find myself bashfully gnawing at my lip as I realize I'm practically sniffing his jacket, albeit secretly.

 

I stay quiet, even though I want to say something. This is one of the exceptionally rare times that I feel as shy as a mouse. 'I guess my more extroverted personality has taken a turn for the worse...' I purse my lips and keep my eyes trained on the forest around me for anything interesting.

 

Hoodie turns and looks at us after a long moment, then holds a gloved finger up to his mask's mouth. We get the signal and lighten our footfalls, placing our feet down with caution. Obviously I missed something important.

 

At first, I can't understand why, but I swivel my head to the side to see a poorly lit campfire about forty feet away. All of the sudden I can hear the dimming embers crackling and the slight rustling of the wind hitting the fabric of a tent, which I see not to far off from the poorly lit flames. The tent looks like it has been ripped to shreds by something like a wild bear, but I know that we don't have any of those in these woods- so whatever made that was definitely big and definitely dangerous. The wind carries an odd smell towards us from the campsite- extremely familiar, but still new. I can't quite place it, so I write it off. I even quiet my breathing as a safeguard, but then chuckle inside at myself. 'Of course whatever it is can't hear my breathing!' But as I detect the hitches in both Masky's and Hoodie's, I realize that there is a possibility that it could.

 

I jump as a twig cracks under my foot, panic racing through my like a bullet. I cover my mouth just in time so I don't yelp too loud but I still squeak, managing to muffle the noise only slightly, but with the quiet of the forest surrounding us, it sounds more like an explosion. The noise causes the three of us to stand completely motionless, listening for anything.

 

I feel my hearing steadily increase again, but only by a little bit this time because it was already still heightened compared to how I was before. My eyes brighten up a bit more to where I can see what looks like a mile wide span of even the tiniest things in the forest, and it leaves me wondering why I hadn't thought to try and do it earlier. The sense heightening puzzles me though, because I realize that I actually _had_ tried to heighten it more, but no matter what I did it didn't work. Before I can even assess the strange situation, I feel a chill of dread drag its claws down my spine. I think the other two also feel it because we all skip a heartbeat together- well at least three of us do.

 

I slowly twist my head around. I gasp as my eyes lock onto the scariest being I have ever seen in my life practically inches away from my face- blood and sinew dripping from its huge metal claws gracing the sides of my face as I look into the white abyss of the thing's eyes and into its jagged, razor-like teeth.

 

 

**Masky's POV**

 

I shudder as I feel eyes on my back. It seems familiar, but not so familiar as it to be... wait... no, it can't be... the Rake can't be in these parts of the woods, he stays to the far South of the house. We shouldn't even be that far away from the trail, if we got off of it on accident. But a nagging thought pulls at me. What if he lost the ability to tell where his is going like I have?

 

I hear (Y/n) gasp loudly from behind me and jolt. In my mind I already know she saw him. I feel her latch her arm onto mine and watch her grab Hoodie's hand, feeling her fingernails dig into my exposed skin. She takes off running, dragging us with her. I can tell that the Rake is following us from the cracks and thumps of tree branches hitting the wet leaves, but he doesn't let me see him- so I know if we stop we're fucked.

 

She digs her nails into my arm even harder, making me wince as I turn back forward. She pulls us along with her and we try as hard as we can to keep up, knowing if we stop, he will rip us to shreds- regardless of our friendly status. I didn't know someone could _nicely_ rip you apart until I met the Rake.

 

I almost trip over my feet as she speeds up even more to where the trees look like blurs as we pass them by. I knew she could run fast, but I didn't know she could run _this_ fast. I make sure to listen hard as I keep facing forward, trying my best to keep pace with her. I try to pinpoint his location in the trees, but thankfully after about twenty seconds of seeing the trees as blurs I can't hear branches splitting or the clinking of his metal claws anymore. I look down to see that she actually managed to stay on the path despite the panic, and realize he quit following us because we must be near the house. If not- he would still be hot on our trail, and we would most likely already be dead.

 

I lightly tug at the arm attached to mine, making her twist her head to look back at me, reading my expression.

 

"What? Oh, he's gone?" She mutters while slowing her pace.

 

She gradually slows down until she comes to almost a complete stop, then lets go of us, stumbling through the last few steps. Hoodie hunches over and tries to catch his breath. I know that he isn't used to running for such a long time going so fast even _with_ his abilities, which I can tell he lost as well from the way he kept his eyes trained on the path. I slump against a tree again, almost as winded as Hoodie.

 

She listens for a few seconds to double check, then lets out a large breath and looks around her with curiosity now that she knows the Rake has decided to leave us alone.

 

"Where were we going, anyway?" She says aloud to herself without a hint of exhaustion in her tone.

 

I point in front of me to the small dusted path. Its winding road is concealed by a thick section of dense Evergreen trees that only seem unnatural when you look at them for too long. She looks up at it with a puzzled expression at first, but then lets her eyes widen and takes a few steps forward, gasping in what I think is awe.

 

"That is one HUGE house. Is that where we're going?" She giddily whispers looking back at me with bright (e/c) eyes, only slightly hidden by a smaller, cat-like pupil and glazed over with a tinge of red.

 

I stare at the side of her face with confusion as she whips back around. At this distance, not even an eagle could see the house through the shrubbery, especially at night. I don't even think I know anybody in the house that can even see past it at full throttle.

 

She turns towards me with glee and catches my hidden eyes through my mask this time. I give a small start and look away from her, instead turning to Hoodie as he rasps through a couple of breaths. He regains his composure and rights himself back into his casual slouching position, but still holds a hand over his chest. He peers over at me with a questioning aura about him to which I only shrug my shoulders at and walk a few paces ahead of him on the path.

 

"(Y/n)? Stay in between us on the path, okay? It's pretty dense, and there isn't a whole lot of light, so we won't be able to see barely anything until we get there." I warn her, moving a few steps closer.

 

"I don't know what you are talking about- I can see perfectly fine. But I can go last if you want me to keep a sharp lookout... Are your eyes okay?" As soon as she says it- a look of understanding comes over her features, but both Hoodie and I become even more confused.

 

Hoodie's mask shifts as he gives her a surprised expression from what I can tell, signaling to me that he is just as astonished as I am. Our memories only go back to when we snapped, but only minutes after we did, our specialized abilities subsided. That's how it was for every Creepypasta at the house. Most of our exceeding abilities were like batteries- they lost power after a certain amount of time- although we all usually work to extend that amount of time through training until our powers stay on unless we are sleeping. I didn't really think of it before, and I just wrote off her eyes as doing that on instinct- sometimes stuff like that happens where the body isn't quite used to the abilities yet, but I didn't realize she had actually been using the abilities this whole time...

 

My thoughts are ripped away from me by a gust of air in my earlobe. I flinch and whip around to my side to come face to face with an impatient woman- which is extremely scary, might I add. (Y/n) is tapping her foot and crossing her arms in a laid back fashion. She has her eyebrows raised and an unamused air around her. I sigh and start walking along the path, all the while trying to keep too much dust from kicking up from the ground and reaching my lungs. I'm still a little winded from all of that running. Hoodie and I keep exchanging looks over her abilities staying. I hold up my fingers to signal an hour, and he does a double take.

 

We keep stealing small glances back at her every few seconds to see if she is alright and still following us. Her head bobs all over the place, surveying every tiny movement and sound coming from all directions. More than once I feel her eyes gawking at Hoodie and I. She seems livelier than she ever was before, and her eyes don't seem to have gone back to normal yet.

 

'At least she can take her mind off of all of it.' I can't help but think to myself. I can feel a twinge in my chest that makes me shiver, and I can't place what it is. It feels warm and fluttery, but at the same time, lethal. The stronger part in me brushes it off as only a fit of drowsiness getting to me, but suddenly feel more tired than I have ever been. I wonder about the time and when I can just go back to bed as I cast my eyes to the side.

 

"Uh, I think we're here guys..." (Y/n) says with a worried and shaky tone.

 

I shake myself until I am more awake before looking up into the faceless expression of Slenderman. The vein along his forehead juts out in an annoyed expression and I can hear the grating of his razor sharp teeth through his leathery skin.

 

I gulp and take a small step back, accidentally bumping into Hoodie. I can feel his harsh glare on me, boring holes into my skin, and I automatically know that something is horribly wrong.


	5. I Guess You Can Stay...

**Masky's POV:**

 

Hoodie grabs my shoulders with such a strong force, that I feel like he might break them. The harsh glare coming from Slender and stinging pain from him sends my mind into a flurry as I turn to find (Y/n). The need to protect her hits me like lightning, and I feel like I have to be near her in case he jumps to conclusions. Kill, then ask is kind of his thing in situations like these.

 

Before I can even make a move, an awful, wet, ripping sound comes from his mouth as he works his jaw open more. My heart stops and my feet refuse to move. He never _opens_ his mouth to speak. _Everything_ about this situation is horribly wrong.

 

"Where the hell have you two been? All of us were looking for you after the hunt. I sent the rest to the house, but I have been looking out here for hours- on- _end_. Do you even know how dangerous it is out there right now? _And who is this?_ " The harsh gravelly voice that rumbles out of his throat sends every hair on my body to stand straight up. I take a tiny step forward and suck in a deep breath. I'm treading on paper thin ice with this, so I need to word this carefully.

 

"Somehow I lost all of my heightened abilities and was led in the wrong direction, wandering around for about an hour. I ended up near the interstate where I hitchhiked with her. It was all I could do, with being so disoriented and lost- left without anything to map my way back."

 

 _"Then why is she still here? You should have killed her instead of bringing her here."_ His voice takes on a deeper, more sinister tone as a few tentacles tear themselves from his back and whip impatiently behind him like a cat stalking its prey. I hear her breathing jolt from behind me so I hurry to get more words out.

 

"We ran into some thugs. She snapped and went through the transformation when I was with her. Her insanity is dormant right now, but she is the only reason I got back here- her abilities are still working, but it seems like both of ours are not." I motion to Hoodie, who nods.

 

The tentacles stop for a second before lowering to calmly swish back and forth. He stands straighter and crosses his long arms, surveying (Y/n) out of the corner of his eye socket, before turning completely towards her and bending down so that he is right in front of her face.

 

She doesn't even blink as she cocks her head slightly and stares into his expressionless face. Hoodie and I stare at her with dumbfounded looks as she takes her hand and brushes it across his cheek with a childlike curiosity, taking a ripped piece of his skin from around his mouth and rubbing it between her fingers, inspecting it. Slender seems as shocked as we are. Seconds later though, she lets out what sounds like a mini squeal and I automatically start to jump to her. Mid step, Hoodie puts an arm in front of me.

 

'Just watch.' I can just hear him saying.

 

(Y/n) smiles and takes her other hand up, placing it on his other cheek. Slender is still lost for words, and even more so when she squishes his cheeks together in a mock fish face. The thing is, because his mouth rips open, he doesn't have lips... which makes it kind of funny, but I push it out of my mind for fear of (Y/n)'s safety.

 

Many warnings flash throughout my mind but all I can do is just stand there and watch. 'What the fuck does she think she is doing?! Does she WANT to die?'

 

A chuckle from Hoodie brings Slender and I out of our trance, but we can still only stare. Hoodie can't hold his laughter in and ends up on his knees out of breath from laughing.

 

Slender scowls at him, which sends (Y/n) over the edge too because he is still making a fish face.

 

"Thish ish very sherioush bishinessh. Why areh phyou laughingh?"

 

(Y/n) takes her hands away from his face to hold her sides as she shakes with every laugh, and their laughter slowly fades away as Slender’s face relaxes with every second.

 

"Immature..." I hear Slender mutter under his breath. "I believe you. She definitely does not look afraid of me. She passes-"

 

(Y/n) lets out a small whoop and smiles again as she cuts him off. I really can't understand where this side of her came from.

 

"Ahem, she passes and can live with us until further notice."

 

Hoodie and I look at each other, and we can both tell that there are grins on our faces. We're glad to be back safe and sound.


	6. Welcome Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I was thinking and I was like, 'Masky just isn't enough love for me, so why don't I add a slight Hoodie x Reader in there too? I mean, it will just be slight, but there might be a little bit of a lemon later on featuring him.' Just an idea.
> 
> Little bit of smut, but nothing toooooo serious happens. ALSO, in this story, Hoodie is just shy and nervous when it comes to socializing. When it comes to killing and doing missions, his shyness goes away.

Okay, so I was thinking and I was like, 'Masky just isn't enough love for me, so why don't I add a slight Hoodie x Reader in there too? I mean, it will just be slight, but there might be a little bit of a lemon later on featuring him.' Just an idea.

 

Your POV:

 

I can't believe how well that worked. I was trying to lighten the mood a little bit and get people to stop thinking about killing me, and judging by the reaction of everyone around me, it definitely worked. I'm just glad the tall being didn't notice the malice in my eyes and my changing into offensive stance as I pushed his cheeks in. If he gave the slightest hint that he was still intending to kill me, I probably would have attacked.

It still makes a nice fluttery feeling build up in my chest and a large smile form on my face at the relief that I didn't have to get violent and I ended up bringing the tense air back to normal. Well, at least I know why Masky wasn't the slightest bit scared of me after he saw what happened when my insanity took over me. Once you know something that looks like that, nothing probably scares you anymore. I wonder offhandedly if he knew what that thing was that chased us earlier.

Masky walks over to me and wraps his arm around my shoulder, then puts me in a headlock and rubs his knuckle against my head, making me laugh. I'm slightly surprised at how close we've gotten in only a couple of hours, but I like it all the same. I kind of always wanted a brother-like figure, but for some reason I feel more than just a brother-sister affection for him. I push the thought away as he lets me back up, and I shake my hair out a little bit with a suppressed grin that was supposed to be a scowl. He simply rolls his eyes at me, causing me to lightly punch his arm and get him to laugh.

 

As we start walking towards the large house in front of us, he keeps his arm around my shoulder. He is only a little bit taller than me, so it really isn't a problem for us. Hoodie returns to his position on the other side of me and laughs a little bit. I guess it's our way of celebrating avoiding two near-death situations and completing our goal of getting back to at least some type of safety.

 

The tall guy looks back at us slyly- not trusting us as we laugh behind him. His mouth has sewn itself back together somehow, and his face is as smooth as ever. With whatever that thing was that I saw earlier in my mind, this guy doesn't even make me blink. He just looks like a very skinny and unproportional snowman in a suit to me. With those thoughts in my mind, I notice that he takes very slow, short strides so we can keep up with him as we make our way along the path.

 

We still stay pretty squished together because the trees lining the path are so close together and the path is so narrow, but it is really comforting. I blush as the reality of the situation catches up to me though. Masky's arm is around my shoulder, we are really close together, and he is only wearing a flimsy tank top. I shake off the feeling. I've had a rough day, and having a couple of seemingly hot guys next to me is all I need. I'm NOT going to ruin this once in a lifetime opportunity.

 

I press my eyes shut for a second, feeling the slight pang of what feels like a headache for a second, but then it goes away- leaving a heavy presence behind in my mind. "As we get into the house, everyone living here will be eager to meet you." I do a double take and look around, noticing the voice to be coming from the tall man in front of me. Hoodie and Masky stay silently walking next to me, seemingly not paying any attention to the being in front of us. I stay silent, intently listening to what he has to say. "We haven't had another addition to the... family in quite a while now, and they will be more than delighted to hear your story. Please do not be afraid of them or account for their rudeness, they just tend to get a little too... excited."

 

I try to figure out if I should speak or think my reply, but it doesn't matter as we exit the forest and enter a large clearing. I feel the heavy presence leave my mind as the house stands in front of us- enormous and illuminated against the dark night around us. All thoughts are washed from my mind as I get an even better look at the house. It really isn't a house, it's more like a cross between a regular house and a mansion, it is so big.

 

"Woah..." is all I can manage to say with childlike curiosity.

 

Hoodie and Masky start laughing again, and I punch them both lightly in the arm, a little embarrassed at myself. This doesn't stop their laughing, instead they get even louder. I hear the thing in front of us let out some sort of sigh as he hears us acting like children behind us again. I smile again. This is a nice change of pace from what happened earlier in the day.

 

In seconds, we're on the porch. The being has to duck so he doesn't hit the ceiling, but doesn't see a spider web and walks right into it. We laugh again as we think he crosses his eyes to look at the spider on his face. Regardless, he brushes it off and opens the door for us.

 

As soon as we step inside, we see a large group of people sitting around a huge television, watching an American football game. The creak of the door alerts all of them and they look over as we shut the door behind us. Masky sheepishly removes his arm from my shoulder and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

 

A lot of people get up from their places around the TV and make their way over to us with smiles on their faces while the rest move about the room. Their smiles quicly turn to surprise as they notice me behind the tall being in front of us. A guy with a blue mask gets to me first as Masky and Hoodie try to sneak away with the being. I clamp down onto Masky's shoulder before he gets away, but I just miss Hoodie as he laughs at my miss and goes to see some other people. There's no way in hell I'm letting Masky leave me alone to face a bunch of random, uniquely featured individuals. It's almost a bit much for me to handle after my previous enlightening encounters with the supernatural this evening.

 

"You must be new, I'm EJ." The guy in the blue mask politely introduces himself as he shyly makes his way towards us.

 

"I'm (Y/n), nice to meet you."

 

He looks at Masky, and I swear I can see a blush start crawling up the side of Masky's neck as I hold onto his shoulder with a death grip.

 

"You should come and watch the next game with us after you meet everyone." He says to me without taking his gaze off of Masky for more than a couple of seconds. "And Masky, you should too, I wanna hear about what happened while we were all separated. I'm glad you are back safe."

 

"Me too, EJ." Masky finally mutters when he comes out of his somewhat embarrassed trance.

 

A couple of girls walk up to me as I watch EJ walk towards Hoodie, who has found a table of snacks. The two girls in front of me look pretty cool- one has very pale skin and completely black eyes while the other has an oddly slowly ticking pocket watch for an eye. They smile kindly at me as Masky escapes my grip to go over to Hoodie. I send him a glare, and he smirks back at me.

 

"Hello, I'm Jane and this is Clockwork. Sorry everyone is all up in your face, we're just excited for someone new to be around here. It's been kinda boring lately."

 

"It's okay, I'm (Y/n). I'm not too shy, so I'm okay with all of these people around me."

 

"That's great to hear!" Clockwork says to me. I grin at her enthusiasm.

 

"Well, we'll let you out of the doorway. You're probably tired from walking around the forest. See ya later." Jane softly grins and Clockwork places a friendly hand on my shoulder before they both walk away.

 

As soon as she says that, I finally realize just how sleepy and achy I am. I nod, and they take off to go into another room. With a bit of an opening between meeting people, I see just why everyone got up now. The football game has ended, and a couple of guys have taken over the TV to play some sort of first person shooter game while they wait for a new game to start. I smile as I think of how much I used to play those with my sister, and I try to keep my sadness away from me. I mean, there's nothing I can do but get revenge on those guys that killed them, and I doubt it would help to keep thinking about it right now. I have really already mourned, and I'm sure they would want me to be happy as soon as possible. I should have fun right now. I can continue to mourn later. Too much pain at one time would send me into another bout of depression, and I can't bear to see myself hurting like that again- not to mention the way my brain shut down from too much strain, which would freak me out if it happened again. Not only would the strain be a lot on me, but my mother, father, and sister would hate to see me suffering through it again- and this time triggered by their deaths. I want to let them rest in peace.

 

I almost jump out of my skin as I hear a sharp bark behind me and feel a tail whacking against the back of my leg. I turn around to see a weird-looking dog with a large human smile and dark red and black fur. Otherwise, he seems normal. His tongue falls out of his mouth as he jumps up onto his hind legs and rests his front paws on my thighs. I laugh again as I pet his head, scratching behind his ears a little bit.

 

"His name is Smile." I hear a gruff voice say from behind me as I place the dog's front paws back down onto the floor. What is with people sneaking up behind me? And the fucking names around here- I swear.

 

I turn and my smile leaves my face, but I feel like the smile on guy in front of me makes up for mine. There are two long, jagged cuts at the edge of the guy's mouth, making it look like he has an abnormally large grin on his face. I see his eyes twitch as it looks like he tries to blink, but I realize he doesn't have eyelids.

 

"Cool... I'm, uh, (Y/n) by the way..." I cautiously hold out my hand.

 

He smiles on top of his permanent smile and takes my hand, roughly shaking it before both of our hands return to our backs. A cautious grin returns to my face as we just look at each other for a second. Masky walks back up next to me and holds a glass of water out to me.

 

"Oh, I see you've met Jeff. Hey dude, how are you doing?"

 

"Fine, Masky."

 

I take the glass of water from Masky's hands and take a quick drink. It gets rid of the slight taste of dust on my tongue and washes it down my throat. I shiver a little at the sudden coldness in my body though, and then realize I am still wearing Masky's jacket. I hold the glass of water out to him for him to take it while I take his jacket off. He grabs the glass questioningly as I unzip the jacket and slide it off of my shoulders, not wanting to dirty it for longer than I need to.

 

I make a sound of disgust as I see the splotches of half-dried blood all over my shirt and arms. Jeff looks impressed, and I trade the jacket for my water.

 

"Woah, what happened to you?"

 

Masky freezes and gives a slightly odd glance in my direction to see my reaction. My grin lessens a little, but that is all.

 

"I was torturing a guy with a knife. Long story."

 

"Ha ha, that's my favorite weapon! I think we'll be good friends."

 

I nod and let him walk away. Masky turns to me fully and pulls his jacket over his shoulders. I can see that he is a little worried about me just by looking in his eyes through his mask. I place a gentle hand on his shoulder to reassure him before stifling a yawn with my hand. I take a quick drink of water to wash a little bit of sleepiness away from me.

 

"Oh, that reminds me. We need to figure out where you're going to sleep tonight. You can probably take my bed."

 

My eyes open wide and I choke on my water. Masky jumps a little bit and starts patting my back.

 

"Sorry. Are you okay?"

 

All I can do is nod and blush really hard as I try to catch my breath. I straighten myself up a little more and laugh it off a little.

 

"I-I'm okay. I'm gonna s-sleep with you?"

 

Masky stops patting my back for a second and I see a little blush cover his ears. He stutters, trying to look for words, but it just makes me burst out laughing.

 

"H-hey! No we are not s-sleeping together. I was going to take H-Hoodie's bed if a-anything." He finally murmurs.

 

"Okay, lover boy. Take it easy, now."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"Well first you were going to sleep with me, now you're going to sleep with Hoodie, who else are you going to sleep with?"

 

Masky doubles over laughing so hard, our sleepiness making us a little too slap-happy. His laughing makes me chuckle a little bit too. I find that I like teasing him a lot. Masky takes my hand after he catches his breath and starts walking towards the snack table. I intertwine my fingers with his, and I feel the muscles in his hand tense up a little.

 

We make it over to the table and weave through the small crowd. I see Hoodie and point over to him. Masky changes his course and we head towards him. He is leaning against a corner with a red cup and his mask slightly lifted up so he can drink. He is looking down at his phone screen and texting.

 

"Hoodie," Masky startles him a little bit, and he jerks the end of his mask back down over his chin, then relaxes when he realizes it's only us, "(Y/n) is tired, and I was going to see if I could sleep with you for tonight."

 

"Yeah, s-sure, you can sleep with me."

 

"Okay, we're going to head up. Just shove me over when you come to bed."

 

"A-actually, I was going to go anyway. I'll come with you."

 

Masky nods and I see his jaw move a little bit as he smiles under his mask. I can't help but think about what his actual face would look like with him smiling like that. We start to walk away from the crowd. I feel my smile being replaced with a frown as I start to think about what happened earlier in the night. I try to shake away the thoughts, but they are too powerful.

 

Noticing the disturbed frown on my face, Hoodie gently places his hand between my shoulder blades. It jerks me out of my thoughts, which I feel really thankful for. I can feel worry radiating off of him with my new abilities. I realize that I can feel a whole lot more and see a whole lot more than what I would just usually notice. It really fills me with a sense of curiosity and happiness. I used to dream about being a superhero when I grew up, and I feel like one right now... well, except for the hero part.

 

He realizes he has done his job in cheering me up, and takes his hand away from me. I feel myself missing that too, so I reach down and take hold of his hand just like Masky. He freezes up a little bit, but keeps walking alongside us.

 

"You can borrow our clothes if you want. I think you would be able to wear one of our hoodies or something until your clothes can be washed and sewn back together." Masky states as he keeps looking forward.

 

"Cool."

 

We go up a small flight of stairs and walk down a long hallway before both Masky and Hoodie stop me in front of a room. We stand outside of a door that looks like one you would see in a hotel- number plate and everything- and Masky takes a key from his jeans pocket. Unlocking the door, he opens it and flips on a light switch. Their room isn't too elaborate. It has two beds, one on each wall, a connected bathroom, a walk in closet, and a desk under a small window in the middle of the back wall between the two beds.

 

We separate our hands as Masky starts to head over to the closet to pick out some clothes for me. Hoodie takes his gloves off and shuts the door. He then pulls his ski mask off. I gasp as I see his face. He's a pretty nice looking guy like Masky with dirty blonde hair and a defined jaw. His eyes are a milky hazel brown color, which I get to know a little more as he catches my stare.

 

He seems just as embarrassed as I am with a light red blush covering his ears, neck and cheeks. I sheepishly smile and run my hand through my hair. He does the same before quickly walking over to join Masky in the search for suitable clothes. I trail behind him, but keep looking around the room and observing a little bit. It's clean except for a couple of shirts on the floor near the bathroom.

 

"Ah, I found a hoodie you can wear. I have some plaid pajama pants you can borrow, too."

 

I walk next to Masky as he holds a black hoodie out to me. I already know it's too big, but who cares? It looks really soft and comfortable. I hum in agreement as he pulls out a medium-sized pair of baggy blue and white pajama pants and hands them to me.

 

"You can change first. We aren't in too much of a hurry to go to bed. You can take your time and clean up if you would like." Hoodie mutters quietly.

 

"Yeah, thanks." I smile politely and turn to walk out. Before I get all the way out though, Masky stops me.

 

"The door doesn't have a lock, so just be careful."

 

"Oh, I-I will." I stutter as a couple of dirty thoughts swirl about my mind. I shake them away and walk through the bathroom door. As soon as I shut it, an uncomfortable silence fills the room. I don't think I have ever felt this lonely in my life. I decide to keep my mind from sad thoughts and return to my dirty thoughts. Having a dirty mind is a lot more fun than anyone would think.

 

I carefully take my torn and bloody shirt over my head and put it on the sink. I follow-up with my pants and put them next to the shirt on the counter. A small trail of dried blood runs down my collarbone and pools at the top of my bra. I scrunch up my nose as I look at it. I then reach around my back and undo the clasp, then take it off and place it on the counter with my stuff.

 

I look around and find a pile of towels by the toilet. I take one and run it under some cool water, then start to rub the blood and dirt off of every inch of my body. When I finish, I wring it out and set it down somewhere to dry. As I somberly look at the pitiful mess that is my hand, I pull out some drawers again to find some butterfly bandages, then hiss as I apply them before pushing the drawers back in. Once done, I pull the hoodie over my head and slightly laugh at a particularly dirty thought that runs through my mind.

 

“What are you laughing about in there?” I hear Masky ask from the other room.

 

“N-nothing! Nothings going on! Nope, nothing exciting in here!” I stutter even though there really isn’t anything going on. I just feel a little embarrassed that the guy I’m thinking about is asking me about it.

 

“Okay, if you need anything just ask.”

 

“Yep.”

 

I pull the pants up my legs and sigh at how comfortable they are, quickly dismissing the fact that they are hanging off of my hips. I snuggle into the hoodie and tighten the strings around the waist of the pants, tying them into a bow. I transfer my phone into the hoodie pocket, then after putting my hair into a bun up on my head, I make sure I look okay before opening the door.

 

I walk out and see Hoodie and Masky sitting on the bed along the far wall. They seemed to have been talking animatedly because Masky’s hands are waving around the air for emphasis with an enthusiastic expression on his face. As I walk out, I lose a little confidence and end up clasping my hands behind my back and looking everywhere but the boys.

 

“You clean up well…” I hear Masky mutter under his breath as they stop talking. I break my gaze from the interesting spot on the floor and meet his eyes as he says that. I find that last little bit of confidence that was hiding and smirk at him. “Whoops… I forgot about that…”

 

I laugh and walk over to the two of them. Their eyes follow me as I sit down right between them on the bed.

 

“The bathroom is open…” I point out to the two of them when they don’t make any moves. I don't know what their problem is, my pants are incredibly baggy and the hoodie seems pretty big to me, and I’m sure my eyes literally look like cherry tomatoes; they’re so red from crying, but they look like a couple of little kids seeing boobs for the first time as they stare at me. I nudge them with a nervous grin, and they snap their eyes away from me.

 

“O-oh yeah.” Hoodie stutters as he practically jogs into the bathroom.

 

“Sorry, I was just telling him about how we met earlier.”

 

“That’s fine. So, where am I sleeping again?”

 

He pats the bed we are sitting on lightly. “This one. Is that okay with you?”

 

“Yeah, of course.”

 

“I’ll let you get settled in then. Here, I can turn the lights off for you.” He shoves himself off of the bed and walks over to the light switch by the door. I lie back on the bed and turn so that my head can be on the pillow. He flips the lights back off, which catches me a little bit off guard, because I feel a little blinded by the darkness. It still looks like the light is still on, but everything is tinted a slightly green color. I can see everything still in perfect detail, unlike usual.

 

“Did you really turn the lights off? I can still see.”

 

“Yeah, and I don’t know how you can, I’m completely blind over here.”

 

He starts to walk across the room, but doesn’t notice my bedpost in front of him. Before I can tell him, he hits it and falls forward onto me. My breath leaves me as he slams down on my stomach and chest.

 

The light of the bathroom illuminates the room as Hoodie opens the door. I’m still trying to catch my breath, and Masky tries to lift himself off of me only to fall back down, which really doesn’t help my case. The second Hoodie sees us, he turns completely red and just shuts the door again. I think I would be laughing if I could breathe.

 

“S-sorry, (Y/n)...” Masky says has he finally pushes himself up off of me. We lock eyes, and I feel the mattress dip down a little bit by my shoulders as he hovers over me. I could probably tell that his face is turning just about as red as Hoodie’s even without my extra sight. He bites his lip, and I feel my heart flutter a little bit just staring up into his eyes and trying not to flick my eyes down to his lips. He comes out of his trance before I can come out of mine and hurriedly gets off of the bed.

 

“I-I’m really s-sorry about that.”

 

“It’s fine…” I say while still staying halfway in my trance.

 

Hoodie peeks back out of the bathroom and in at us. Masky turns and sheepishly grins at him while trying to look anywhere around the room except for him. Hoodie covers his mouth and laughs a bit as he opens the door a little more and walks out. Masky walks past him and into the bathroom behind him. I bemusedly shake my head and turn to face the wall. I close my eyes and try to slow my breathing until I feel myself slowly falling asleep.

 

Before I am completely gone, I feel something softly touch my cheek, but it’s so fleeting that I blow it off and just keep trying to go to sleep- silently hoping for a better day tomorrow.


	7. Flirting Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little tame Hoodie x Masky for the beginning. I mean who doesn’t like a little bit of boy x boy now and then. It doesn’t do any harm.
> 
> Little bit of smut, but nothing toooooo serious happens. Enjoy.

A little tame Hoodie x Masky for the beginning. I mean who doesn’t like a little bit of boy x boy now and then. It doesn’t do any harm.

Little bit of smut, but nothing toooooo serious happens. ALSO, in this story, Hoodie is just shy and nervous when it comes to socializing. When it comes to killing and doing missions, his shyness goes away.

Hoodie’s POV:

‘Shit shit shit shit shit. Did I just do that?’

My body feels like it’s on fire I’m blushing so hard. I just wanted to go over to see if (Y/n) was asleep, but I got a little bit carried away and accidentally- well, no it wasn’t accidental- oh god I kissed her. Oh shit… I don’t think I have ever been this embarrassed in my life… What in the world got into me?!

I peek out from under my small fort of blankets on my mattress to check if she is still awake, which thankfully she isn’t. I take a deep breath and try to calm myself down, but It’s kind of hard when I’m buried under about three blankets with a limited amount of air and suffocating heat. I end up just throwing the blankets off of me and high tailing it to the bathroom. Maybe Masky can calm me down.

I shut the door behind me and curse myself because it shut a little too loud for my liking. Masky jumps a little bit and almost falls off of the counter he was sitting on. I almost die laughing after just one look at the expression on his face. His toothbrush is hanging halfway out of his slightly open mouth, and his eyes are extremely wide.

He takes the toothbrush out of his mouth and spits in the sink, then turns back to me with a questioning look. I smile sheepishly, realizing this probably wasn’t the best idea to talk to the other guy that likes her, and try to escape back out through the door. He sees me reaching for the knob, and before I can rush out again, he smacks his hand against the door, trapping me in between him and it.

“What is it?” He calmly asks with a hard edge of seriousness.

“N-n-n-nothing…”

“Stop lying. What’s going on?”

“Um…”

“You better answer or I’ll force it out of you.”

“Oh really, how? (Y/n) is just outside this door. Do you want to wake her up?” I prod him in a sudden burst of confidence that I immediately regret.

It looks like he actually contemplates it, but squeezes his eyes shut for a second and looks into my eyes again. “Whatever. Just tell me.”

“W-well… I... I kissed her…” I barely whisper, but he still hears it.

“You what?!” He whisper yells. He leans in a little closer to my face to where I can clearly smell the minty toothpaste on his breath. The front of his chest brushes against mine, and I feel my heart start beating even faster with him this close to me. It brings up a few heated memories that I find extremely unhelpful to my current state.

“She wasn’t awake a-and I just g-got a little carried away a-and I just leaned down and k-kissed her cheek b-but then I hid and-”

“Okay, you’re rambling again.” He scolds.

“O-oh sorry.” I try to look away from his eyes because they seem to be holding me in place with their gaze.

Masky sighs and takes his hand off of the door. He sits back down on the counter, and I just keep standing stock still, my knees slightly weak. I break my dazed state and lean on the counter next to him. I’m kind of worried about what he thinks of me now. I do a small double take. When do I worry about that? I haven't felt like myself since I found him earlier. Maybe it's jealousy?

“Listen... I know what you’re thinking, and I’m not mad. I just don’t know what to do...” I swear I can hear him quietly mutter "I should have thought of that" under his breath.

“Well, do you think we could, you know… share? I m-mean we don’t have to, it’s up to you- and then her.”

He stops and looks up at me with an unreadable expression. I awkwardly grin and try to relieve a little tension. It seems to work, because he returns my grin and holds out his hand for me to shake it. I take it quickly, happy that he isn’t mad.

“We’ve shared everything all the way up until now. She has to be the one to decide if she wants one of us or both of us though, okay? I promise not to get overly jealous or anything.”

“Me either. Deal?”

“Deal.”

Your POV:

I startle myself as I wake up from yet another nightmare, but quickly calm myself down. It helps to keep in mind that they are not real when you are awake, but not much can help you inside the actual nightmare. I don't really remember much, but it seems like it was one of my regular recurring ones- nothing new... surprisingly.

I brush it off, then yawn and stretch my arms up over my head. I open my eyes and do a double take when I realize that this isn’t my bedroom. I feel a little worried and search around the room frantically until I finally remember what happened the day before. I immediately block the memories.

'Oh wait, what time is it?' I search around the room again to see if I can find a clock before spotting an Iphone on the desk next to me. I pick it up and hit the home button to turn it on. The screen almost instantly comes to life with a cute picture of both Hoodie and Masky with their arms around each other's shoulders laughing their asses off as they take the picture of themselves. I smile and then look up at the top of the screen to see that it’s only 12:43 AM. I remember we went to bed around 11.

“I didn’t sleep very long, now did I?”

I remember that Hoodie and Masky were going to sleep together in the other bed, so I look across the room to find two lumps in Hoodie’s bed. I get a devious little thought and take my own phone out, place the other phone back down, then swipe the screen up on my phone to turn on the camera before creeping across the floor towards both of them.

I accidentally step on a particularly squeaky board on the floor and freeze. No movement. Good. I continue my mission to get a picture of them. As I reach the side of the bed, I’m happy to see them cutely spooning each other, but I hear them both mutter something and freeze again.

‘Oh shit did they wake up?’

“(Y/n)...” I hear them clearly this time and almost instantly a blush sets my face ablaze as I catch the sultry undertones in their voices. I peek down at them to check if they really are still asleep, and thank god they are, I think...

I quietly snap a few quick photos, pocket my phone, and start to make my way over to my bed. Before I even get more than two steps in, Masky’s arm shoots out and firmly grabs onto the back of my hoodie. I squeak and turn around to see that he is still asleep. I try to pry his hand off, but to no avail. Just when I give up, he jerks me back and onto the bed.

I fall awkwardly on top of both of them, and miraculously they don’t wake up. Masky turns over in his sleep to face the middle of the bed and pulls me along with him. I end up in the middle of both Hoodie and Masky with a critical blush heating me up from head to toe. I shake my head and sigh, just giving up. I don’t even want to try waking them up if they didn’t when I fell on them, not that I would want to wake them up and go back to my bed anyway. Again, I'm not going to miss out on this once (now twice) in a lifetime experience.

I pull the covers down a little bit to get under them, but automatically stop when I feel bare skin against my hand. Both Hoodie and Masky are not wearing shirts. I feel like I might get a nosebleed. I shake off the feeling and just get under the sheets, just not even caring one bit anymore. Hoodie is facing me on my right side while Masky is on my left side and also facing me. I turn my back to Masky, and pull the blanket back up over us.

Masky finally lets go of the back of my shirt, only to wrap his arm around my middle and rest his face in the side of my neck. His breath against me tickles a little bit, and I almost laugh, but Hoodie cuts me off by tangling his legs up in mine and draping an arm on my hip. I feel extremely embarrassed by now, but what’s to keep me from joining in?

I wrap my arm around Hoodie’s chest right under his arm and pull myself flush against him before resting my head against the pillow and closing my eyes again. Seconds later, I feel his warm forehead comfortably rest against my own, and a tired smile works its way onto my lips just before I drift off again.

‘Maybe I won’t have any nightmares sleeping here...’ is my last thought before drifting off.

Time Skip

A small ray of sunshine brightens up the room and warms my cheek, slowly rousing me out of my sleep. The sun gives me a pleasant feeling, until a few minutes later when the light moves across my cheek and up to my eye. I scrunch my eyelids together to try to block out the sunshine and silently curse for it to move already, but I quickly give up and move forward a little to evade its warm, golden gaze.

All is well until it reaches my eye again, so I move myself back this time so it can’t catch me again. I accidentally push a little too hard I guess, because whoever is behind me grunts in pain. Wait… what?

My eyes shoot open, which is a bad idea because the room is too bright. After recovering and letting my eyes slowly adjust, I look behind me to see Masky peacefully resting in between my shoulder blades with his arms wrapped securely around my chest right under my boobs.

I hear another groan come from in front of me when I apparently pull a little too far away for Hoodie’s liking. He tightly grips my hip with his one hand and uses his legs to bring me completely against him. Our foreheads bump, and the light that was on my eye earlier makes its way into his eye as well. I let out a hiss of pain as his forehead rams into mine.

He groans again, and I feel his breath graze softly over my lips as well as the vibration rumble through his chest. I feel a dilemma start to form in my mind as I try to keep my eyes from flicking down to his slightly parted lips. I mean, they’re only millimeters away from mine, and not to mention how soft they look-

Before I can make up my mind, Masky decides he isn’t close enough to me either and pushes hard into my back. I awkwardly bump into Hoodie’s lips at a crooked angle and feel my teeth scrape across his lip. Both of our eyes go wide as I feel an iron taste sweep across my tongue. I try to move back a little because Hoodie is against the wall and can’t move anywhere, but Masky just pushes even harder into me while also sliding his hand up my side a little, dragging the hoodie along with it.

I bat at his hand, instantly remembering taking off my bra the night before. He stops taking the fabric up, but instead slides his hand underneath the it and keeps moving up my side until he reaches the underside of my breast with his fingertips and stops. With Hoodie still on my lips and Masky’s hand inching closer and closer to my chest, I feel myself almost sweltering with a hearty red blush covering my face. It doesn’t help that like three warm blankets are covering me and two literally hot guys are pressing into both of my sides.

Masky’s hand brushes past the underside of my left boob and lightly caresses over the top of it before squeezing experimentally. I moan into Hoodie's mouth and close my eyes, unintentionally pushing into him a little bit more. He seems to come out of his little stupor and moves his lips against mine a little bit, surprising me, before smacking Masky’s arm to get him to stop.

Masky squeezes a little harder on the tender flesh right as I try to pull away to get some air, making me mewl into Hoodie’s open mouth with half lidded eyes. Masky then pulls his hand out from under my shirt and starts to wake up a little more. He moves his head back into the crook of my neck, pushing me back onto Hoodie’s lips again.

“Ow Hoodie, what was that for?” He sleepily mutters half to himself.

He doesn’t make any move to open his eyes from what I can feel. His eyelashes softly caress the skin along my jaw as he nuzzles in a bit deeper. I realize that I still have my arm around Hoodie’s back, and decide with myself that since I’m already kissing him and I can’t back out of it, I guess I should do it properly.

I move my left arm from behind his shoulder to around his neck and into his hair. I find that it is really soft and silky, and then experimentally rake my nails lightly against his scalp. He lets out a low and guttural noise that rumbles throughout his body and against my flushed skin. We start moving our lips slowly against each other, and Hoodie’s hand tightens even more on my hip, pushing me as close to him as possible. I whimper a little bit as I feel myself getting a little too hot for my liking, but I can’t get my arms or legs loose enough from our mess of appendages to push the blanket back down.

By now our breathing is getting a lot heavier, and it echoes about the room. I feel Masky’s eyelashes flutter against my neck as he opens them and gain a little hope that he might move, but he just closes them again. I grumble a little bit and take my hand away from Hoodie to push him back. I slam my hand against his body a little too hard, and he lets out a surprised sound as he falls off of the bed and onto the floor with a thump.

Hoodie and I break our kiss, taking deep, hard breaths now that we finally have air. We both open our eyes to meet each other, but don’t care about our embarrassment in the moment and turn to look over the side of the bed to see if Masky is okay. Hoodie sits up a little and looks over me and down at Masky with me.

Masky groans in pain and rolls back to us on the floor, facing us. He looks more than pissed, so naturally I feel like dying laughing. Both Hoodie and I manage to stifle our laughter though as Masky sits up and rubs his backside with a pained expression.

“Owwww, why the hell did you do that?” He looks up at us with a nasty glare that makes us almost fail in concealing our laughter.

Masky’s face changes from angry to embarrassed in a flash as his mind catches up with him. Hoodie and I burst out laughing and fall on top of each other as Masky opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water while staring at me. He growls up at us for laughing at him, which we respond with cheeky grins.

“When in the world did you get in our bed last night?”

“I got a little too close to you, so you grabbed my shirt and pulled me on the bed, then both of you put me in lockdown. I could barely even move!” I chuckle and cover my mouth with the tips of my fingers.

“So then why did you push me onto the floor?” He wines.

I give Hoodie a look that tells him to stay quiet before Masky sees it.

“Well you were squishing both me and Hoodie against the wall! We were dying!”

He puts his other hand on the back of his neck and looks away, muttering a small “oh”. Hoodie and I laugh again as we move to get up. It’s obvious we aren’t going to be able to go back to sleep after all of this action, so both of us lift ourselves from the bedspread and swing our legs onto the floor.

“I’m really sorry, (Y/n).”

“Oh it’s alright, I’ve been dreaming of sleeping with two guys for a pretty long while.” I playfully hint to them with a smirk. I then get up while pulling my hoodie back down to cover my stomach. I see both of them freeze as the reality of my comment hits them. I ignore them and pull my hair down out of it’s bun, shaking my head a few times to get it to loosely fall around my face. I start to walk over to the bathroom, feeling their eyes follow me as I make my way across the room. Just before I get inside the bathroom, I half turn around, flipping my hair over my shoulder a little bit. “But don’t get any ideas you two.”

I add a wink onto that and then quietly shut the bathroom door. I double over laughing as I hear both Masky and Hoodie fall onto their backs with a loud thump. I feel accomplished in my little flirting game, and pretty proud of myself, might I add. I haven’t had this much fun flirting in a long time, but I figure that I'm an adult, and I need something to take my mind off of- well... everything else- so a bit of this and that here and there couldn't hurt as long as I'm not just pushing around their feelings.

I find a tube of scentless deodorant in one of the bottom cabinets and use a comb that was left on the counter to untangle any knots in my hair before side braiding it and letting it rest on my shoulder. I pull a few stray hairs out near my face and smooth my eyebrows out a little before feeling ready. I wonder if I really should take a small shower after dying of heat in the bed, but I just fixed my hair and put deodorant on, so I just keep it in mind for later. I do realize that I need to change out of my pajama pants, though.

I peek out of the door to still see them lying on their backs in a dazed state and shake my head. They are definitely entertaining to watch. I whistle a little bit, and both of them shoot upright, whipping their heads around to me, trying to play off their laying on the floor. I tilt my head a little and let my braid fall off of my shoulder as I smile at them.

“Can one of you find a pair of jeans or something that I can wear?”

Masky is the first one on his feet, brushing himself off a little bit after his visit with the floor. Hoodie soon follows, and they both walk over to the closet to find me some pants. I follow them with my eyes all the way until they reach the closet doors, where I can’t see anymore. I can’t help but stare- I mean two pretty hot looking guys are shirtless and wearing skinny jeans in front of me. Who wouldn’t?

After about a minute of waiting and listening to them shuffle around in the closet, Hoodie comes back with a pair of black, slightly ripped skinny jeans. He smiles as he hands them to me, which I take gratefully, they look like they will fit me just right.

“Thanks guys! I’ll be out in a minute.”

Masky walks up right next to Hoodie and they both nod their heads in agreement. I quietly slip back into the bathroom and shut it, excited to try on the jeans. I untie the small bow I had tied on the pajama pants to keep them up and push them off of my hips. They pool at my feet, and I step out of them, unbuttoning the jeans and holding them in front of me to pull them up my legs.

I put them over my feet and struggle a little bit to get them over my ass and heels, so I end up doing a weird little struggle dance. They finally come up to my waist and reach my ankles, and I feel really happy. Skinny jeans make me look pretty cool in my opinion.

I button them up and check how they look in the mirror before opening the door again. Hoodie and Masky have dressed themselves already, but they haven’t put their masks on yet. I walk over to them as they lean themselves on the wall by the door just chatting. They stop talking as I near them and act a little weird, like they don’t want me to know what they were talking about.

“What’cha talking about?” I ask to see if I can get some sort of an answer out of them.

“N-nothing.” They both say in unison as they both look away from me and push themselves of the wall.

“We can head down and eat breakfast early if you want. If you don’t, we can just watch TV downstairs or something. EJ is probably up right now, either him or BEN.”

I pretend to ignore the way they switched subjects pretty quickly and keep along with the conversation. “Yeah, I feel only a little hungry. It’s probably around 7:30 right now, and I usually don’t eat breakfast until I get to work around 9. Ha ha, now that I think about it, it’s a good thing I got my paycheck yesterday…”

Masky and Hoodie smile a little bit and go to fetch their masks before we all head out the door. Masky locks it behind us and then catches up to Hoodie and I as he leads me down the hallway and onto the stairwell.

“I think we have some leftover New York style cheesecake in the fridge. Let’s hope it isn’t gone.” Masky informs us as he keeps his gaze forward and shoves his hands into his pockets.

“I could probably cook something if it came to that, but I really would rather have cheesecake for breakfast.” Hoodie says to both of us as we walk down the stairs in a line. I add another awesome thing about him to my list inside my head, ‘can cook, and also offers to do it without being asked.’

Masky’s mood seems to brighten up at the mention of Hoodie’s cooking. He turns to me excitedly and points at me. “You have to try his pancakes, they are awesome.” He insists.

“I could actually go for both. They sound great together.”

Both Masky and Hoodie nod their heads and look at me. I can tell they are smiling by the way their masks lay on their faces. I return their smiles and follow them the rest of the way down the staircase.

We reach the end of the landing and walk over into the living room. I see EJ laying sideways on the couch with a thick blanket laying on top of him. He lazily switches through channels, but brightens up when he sees us. He kicks the blanket off and sits up, making room on the couch. I smile at Masky and Hoodie before walking forward and joining EJ on the couch.

“Is anything on?” I ask him as he stifles a yawn with his hand.

“Not really. You can have the control.” He limply holds the remote out to me, and I take it from his hands. I look at the side of his face and see that his mask is a little ajar, so I try to lean over just a little to get a better look. All I can see is the same darkish grey skin on his cheek just like the skin on his hand. He catches my stare and quickly moves the mask to the side. I chuckle and move back.

“Sorry, I was just curious.”

“It’s... fine.” He nervously mumbles as he looks down at his light grey sweatpants.

Masky and Hoodie make their way past the couch and into the room behind us, which must be the kitchen. They carry on with a small conversation of their own, ignoring us.

“We saw the news report on you. You’re pretty ruthless.” He says with a little bit of a jokey tone to it. I glance at him curiously, stopping my bored channel surfing.

“What do you mean?”

“You were the one that killed the entire block of people, right?” My eyes widen and I set my elbow on my thigh, leaning my head into my hand exasperatedly.

“No, but that has a part to play in me coming here.” I murmur.

“Oh sorry, what happened? The police are accusing you of doing all of it and seem to be searching for you.”

“What? How? I only entered one house, and it was mine!” I mutter mostly to myself. “Well... I picked up Masky on the side of the interstate first. He apparently had gotten lost or something. When I got home, there was a group of men in my neighborhood that had gone around killing everyone. They murdered my family… and worse… but I only got to mildly injure one of them with a kitchen knife before having to leave with Masky. There were too many of them for us to beat ourselves, and I would like to make my revenge a little more personal anyway.”

“Jeez… that sounds fucking terrible. No wonder you snapped.”

“Yup.” I say with an awkward, but also playful grin. I find that I like talking about how I became this way to him, even though it involves my family dying, and me not getting my revenge yet. Something about him just makes me want to tell him all of my little secrets.

“So where did Hoodie come in?” He asks after a little bit of silence.

“Oh, well we found him in the forest. Something must have happened, and I think either he got lost too, or he was looking for Masky. He joined us and then we ran into something out there that chased us, and then that tall guy showed up.”

"Slenderman?"

"I never knew his name, but yeah."

“Holy shit your night sounds like it was epic.” He says with an amazed, but still laid back tone.

“Yeah, it was... I guess.”

I lazily scroll through a few more channels before dropping the control back onto the couch and crossing my arms, boredom setting in. I turn and look at EJ, and he holds up the blanket, silently asking if I want it. I hold my hand out to take it and he lays it on both of our laps. I then turn and look at his mask again, kind of curious as to how he can see out of it, and if the black stuff dripping from the eye holes is paint, or some other weird liquid.

He rests his hand on his cheek and sets his elbow on his knee, just looking at me and silently asking 'what?'. I squint my eyes and lean just a little bit closer to get a look at his face. I can feel a spark of shock from him as I read his feelings, and he leans back a little bit. “Wha… What are you doing?” He nervously asks, the feeling making a weird tingling sensation go through my body.

“I was trying to figure out how you see through that thing.” I mumble curiously. He seems to relax instantly, and quits moving away.

“Oh, if that’s it, the material is just a little bit of thin black cloth. It’s just like looking through sunglasses.”

“Well, then what about what’s leaking out of the eye holes?”

EJ freezes up again and I sigh. It seems like he’s shyer than I thought. With a slightly shaky hand, he reaches up and brushes a fingertip against the liquid, staring at it thoughtfully for a second before twisting his hand a little to let me see it better. I gaze at it with my eyes squinted. It looks like paint, but it’s too watery to be paint, and too solid to be watercolor. Maybe its watered down oil or something. But what the heck is it doing there?

“It’s tar-like. I’ve tested it before, and it is mixed with a lot of other things. It comes from my eye sockets.”

“It comes from your what?” I say. I wasn’t really paying attention because I was distracted by the liquid.

“My eye sockets.”

I look at him a little skeptically. He doesn’t look like he’s kidding. My eyes widen a little bit as I realize what that means. “So you don’t have eyes?”

“No.”

“What the fuck?! How can you see?!”

“I really don’t know that one.”

“Something EJ doesn’t know? This is a first.” EJ and I turn around to see Jeff standing there holding a knife with the sharp tip lightly resting between his lips. I get an overwhelming sense of pride from Jeff that I didn’t feel the night before when talking to him. As I unintentionally read his feelings, it puts a sour taste in my mouth it’s so strong, but I shake my head a little bit and the taste goes away.

“Why do you insist on sneaking up on everyone?” EJ sighs with his hand over his chest. I hear his heart calm down to a soft rhythmic beat from a rapid flutter, so I must have been toning it out the whole time. It’s actually really relaxing, and I stifle a small yawn as I listen to it.

“It’s my favorite hobby, besides y’know, stabbing people.”

EJ rolls his eyes playfully and scoots a little closer to me to make room for him on the couch. Jeff practically throws himself down beside us, jostling EJ and I against each other, almost knocking our heads together. I lean back a little and close my eyes after a second, enjoying the beating of EJ’s heart a little more. It’s softer and a lot slower than my own, and it is like someone lightly tapping a finger against the inner rim of my ear.

I feel a slight poke against my thigh and open one eye halfway, looking coyly under my eyelashes at EJ. “What did you say?” I ask. I wasn’t paying attention again. I feel really out of it after all of the excitement from the morning.

“Jeff asked if you had a good sleep.” I lean forward and open my other eye to look at Jeff. The side of his mouth is very slightly curved up to where I barely notice his smirk between the slits on his mouth. He makes a kissy face behind EJ’s back, and I turn absolutely red. EJ seems really confused, and looks between Jeff and I to figure out just why I look so flustered.

“My room is right next to yours,” Jeff starts. “You guys woke me up this morning. I just now felt like getting out of bed.” The curve in his smirk turns upwards a little more. He turns to EJ, looking like he just won the lottery as he thinks up another idea to tease me. I huff and roll my eyes, preparing for whatever other torture he has in mind for me. “So last night was really fun, huh EJ?” EJ nods and I think he also raises an eyebrow under his mask. He still has that extremely confused aura about him. “That was a pretty rough game of football. I especially liked it when they slammed heads together in the second quarter. It really got me turned on to stay and watch the rest of the game.”

“...Uh huh…” EJ says with a bored expression as he reaches down and plays with his fingernails. He finally catches onto what Jeff is doing, but tries to act as if he still doesn’t understand. My mind stops working overtime as I stare at him coolly messing around with his hands, an extremely chill expression on his face. I automatically gain a ton of respect for him, and add him to the list that Masky and Hoodie were recently on: potential besties. I had to move them off of that list though because of our little happening this morning.

“Did you like last night, (Y/n)? It must have been pretty exciting.” I look up at him, noticing that he has unstressed his words, and his tone seems to be a bit more genuine. I meet his eyes, and notice a small twinkle of childlike curiosity as he looks at me questioningly. I smile and let out a small hum in affirmation.

“Yeah, but apparently what you guys heard isn’t what actually happened.” I sigh. For some reason, I don’t feel as comfortable talking to Jeff as I do with EJ. I think EJ senses this, because he puts a hand on my knee under the blanket where Jeff can’t see, and looks at me with a sidelong glance that sends my jumbled mind back into it’s rightful calm state. Jeff stares at me expectantly, sticking the tip of his knife back into his mouth absentmindedly.

“Give her a break, Jeff. She has a lot on her mind.” EJ steps in before I can even utter my first word. I silently thank EJ in my mind because he doesn’t need to hear it. It’s like he already knows it.

“You know, she kind of reminds me of Sage, now that I think about it. If you look into her eyes at the right angle,” He leans forward a little and looks into my eyes from a sideways stare, “it looks like she has the same reddish orange color to them as Sage’s did right after she snapped. Wait, I think she has the same type of lips and skin color too…”

I stare at EJ for an answer, but I feel a little taken aback as I see a small, black, watery tear slip out from the side of his mask and slide down his jaw before dropping off of his chin. He quickly wipes the wetness away, leaving a small, barely visible black smudge along his jaw.

“I’m pretty sure that I don’t have anywhere near red or orange colored eyes, Jeff.” I state with a little hint of a snark at the end. I surprise myself by it, but something about how he made EJ cry just puts me a little on edge.

“Hold on.” Jeff says as he places his knife in between his teeth and holds it there while he takes his phone out of his hoodie pocket. He pulls up his camera before holding the device out to me. “Here, take a look for yourself.”

I cautiously reach out for the phone, trying to read his expression to see if he’s joking, but I already know by what feelings are coming off of him that he isn’t. Nonetheless, I take the phone and look into the camera. Gasping, I drop the phone into my blanketed lap as I see Masky leaning right over my shoulder. I do get a small glance at my eyes in the camera before dropping it though, and feel astonished as I realize that my eyes are in fact, an unnatural reddish orange color.

I whip around and glare at Masky as I hear him laugh under his mask. Hoodie quickly walks up next to him, not wanting to be too far away from him. I try to intensify my glare, but all it does is make him laugh harder.

“Hey… quit it…” I pout. He catches his breath and then rests his head on his folded arms that were already leaning on the couch and stares at me. I roll my eyes and blow at his mask, moving his bangs out of his face a little and making him close his eyes under the mesh covering behind the eye holes. I spot a small bit of cheesecake smudged on his collarbone as he moves to just rest his head on his right hand.

I reach out and lightly run my finger across it, then stick it in my mouth. I really had no doubts that it was cheesecake, because I could already smell it on him, and how can a cheesecake lover mistake it for anything else?

I suckle on my finger a little bit more before popping it out of my mouth. All of the guys stop and stare at me, and I feel a little overwhelmed as every heartbeat in my ears starts beating louder until there is a cacophony of thunder rattling throughout my ears. I reach up and cover them with a pained expression before looking up at Masky.

“What? What are you guys looking at? Jeez...” I ask in an innocent tone, but I already know what I’ve done. It really was an accident, but I feel like using it to my advantage to entertain myself in my flirting game.

I hear a “N-nothing” from every single guy around me in the room as they return to what they were doing, or try to distract themselves. I find it funny as Hoodie accidentally catches my stare, then jerks his eyes away and flicks them about the room, before running back into the kitchen.

I laugh a little and cover my mouth. “Fork over the control, you two. My show will be coming on in about five minutes.” Masky huffs, still a little flustered by my expression as he knows that I have gotten a bit of revenge back on him for scaring me. He walks around the side of the couch and squishes me against EJ as he wedges his way between the couch arm and me.

I put my elbows on the back of the couch after a little bit, and feel my forearm brush against something. I look behind me to see that Hoodie has slowly slunk back into the room, and stands behind the couch. I tilt my head backwards and stare up at him. I give him a cheesy smile, and the ever present nervousness radiating off of him ebbs away a little bit.

This is really nice, just sitting there with a bunch of guys around me. I already feel like part of the group.


	8. Breakfast Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all of the kudos and comments you guys are giving me! I'm so glad that you guys like the story, and it really means so much to me!

I knock Jeff upside the head for the umpteenth time as he blows into my ear again. I really don’t understand how exactly his breath can reach my ear from a good foot-and-a-half away, but he manages to do it, over and over, without stopping for more than a minute. EJ seems not to care as I accidentally brush against the back of his head while whacking Jeff. Nothing fazes that guy. He just seems to keep enjoying watching the two of us annoy the shit out of each other as he just sits quietly.

 

Masky on the other hand, has been quiet the entire time as he gazes intently at the current show playing on the TV. It is a baking competition. It really surprised me when he turned the channel to this earlier. I thought he might be some sort of popular action or horror guy, but no, he’s the cooking show type. I laugh a little out loud as I see a certain twinkle of awe appear in his eye as the final product of a half an hour of watching a person throw ingredients into a bowl comes onto the screen. I can understand though, it really looks awesome.

 

I turn my head to the doorway as I hear footsteps coming down the flight of stairs. A couple of feminine voices ring in my ear, but are soon cut short as another gust of cool air hits my ear.

 

“That’s it!” I yell as I throw off my blanket and jump off of the couch, startling Hoodie who had pulled up a chair and was resting next to my head playing with a few strands of my hair. Masky jumps a little bit and EJ just stares at me in surprise. I stomp a couple of steps to my right until I’m standing right in front of Jeff, a deep-set glare crinkling the corner of my eyes and mouth. It annoys me even more that Jeff keeps smiling over top of the already ridiculously large one already carved into his features.

 

“I’m terrified, are you guys?” Jeff mocks without taking his eyes off of mine. He sticks his knife in his mouth again, which seems to be a habit of his that I picked up on. I smile evilly as an idea floats up into my mind.

 

I quickly reach forward and wrap my hand around the hilt of the knife then jerk it away from him. All signs of mischievousness leave his eyes and are replaced with fear. He opens his mouth to say something but is cut off as I take off running towards the stairs. I accidentally bump into one of the girls in the doorway, but mutter a rapid apology as I dart up the stairs two at a time and run down the hallway. I reach Masky and Hoodie’s room in a flash, hearing Jeff’s labored breathing as he comes up the stairs a ways down the hallway behind me. I try the knob and flinch as I realize that it is locked.

 

I turn down to the other end of the hallway and see a small light coming from an open doorway just about ten doors down. I sprint away from the door in front of me and listen hard, trying to figure out who is in the room as well as how far Jeff is behind me. I reach the jarred door and pull myself in quickly before shutting and locking it behind me.

 

Automatically, I hear the sound of echoing gunshots blaring into my ears, which scares the living shit out of me at first, but then they come to a complete stop as I hear a small bell noise of a menu popping up on a video game. I look across the room at the bewildered elf boy in front of me… wait, elf boy? I squint my eyes just to make sure that his ears are definitely a lot longer and a lot pointier than most, and check that those are definitely onyx black filled eyes that are boring into me as I press myself against the door. I take a deep breath and turn around a little to look through a peephole a little lower than where my chin is.

 

“Who are you?” A higher pitched male voice comes from him as I peek through the small hole in the door. I yelp as Jeff comes into my eyes with an absolutely livid look.

 

“Never mind that right now, hide this!” I whisper-yell to the boy and toss the knife to him. He snatches it out of the air and stares at me questioningly before walking over to his bed and picking a phone up and off the covers.

 

I am about to yell at him to quit checking his phone and hide the knife, but I swallow my words as I watch him slide his hand out of the phone and hit the top button to turn it off before shoving it into his back pocket.

 

“Give it back! I’ll fucking kill you!” I hear loud and clear through the door. After spending almost an hour with him, I know that it is an empty threat towards me and laugh. I turn back to the teenage guy behind me and wink before unlocking the door and pulling it open, making sure to stay hidden behind it. Jeff stumbles in seconds later, apparently having been leaning on the door a little too much. He looks around the room and silently asks the guy where I am, to which he responds by pointing to a set of closet doors on the other side of the room.

 

Jeff smiles creepily as he walks over to the closet with his hand at the ready. I take the opportunity when he slams open one of the closet doors. I bolt out of the room and down the hallway to go back to the couch. I hear a frustrated yell and then warm laughter from the other guy in there before hearing Jeff rush out of the room after me. I come to the stairs and hop on the rail along the side and ride down it quickly, then let out a small whoop as I get to the end of the stairs and hop off of the rail, rushing over to the couch and burying myself under the blanket between EJ and Masky. They paused the show, and apparently had been listening to Jeff and I run around the house, because they are out of breath from laughing.

 

I pull the large blanket over me a little more and curl up into a fetal position before muttering a small “Hide me!” before Jeff enters the room. They hesitate a little bit before I feel EJ lay over sideways and on top of me. He shuffles and makes a sort of wall that hides me behind him, and I barely hold in my laughter as I imagine the pose he is making. He probably looks like some kind of underwear model. I wrap my arms around Masky’s waist, making him jump a little bit and tense up.

 

“Where is she?!” Jeff growls to the two of them as I hear him stomp into the room. I try to keep as still and as quiet as possible. Masky relaxes a little and points back into the kitchen. I hear footsteps move across the floor and behind the couch, then let out a small breath as I hear the door swing open and then shut again. I giggle quietly and wriggle around a little bit.

 

All of the sudden, I feel a sharp jab in my side that automatically registers in my mind as being ticklish and I yelp and laugh loudly. After the first jab, I feel more fingers pushing lightly into my sides, and can’t help but squirm. I throw the blanket off of me to see Jeff smiling devilishly down at me. I turn to glare at Masky, who I can automatically tell has the same grin on his face under that mask, but I am interrupted by a second set of hands tickling my feet.

 

I try to jerk my feet away from them, but they get pinned under EJ’s legs. I look down to see that EJ has betrayed me as well, and is the one tickling my feet. I almost can’t breathe I’m laughing so hard. Masky joins them in tickling my neck with his fingertips. He restrains my arms by pushing himself against the side of the couch so my arms are stuck being wrapped around his waist.

 

“This is payback for pushing me off the bed this morning!” Masky says to me as he keeps moving his fingers along my neck.

 

I muster up enough breath to shout, “Hoodie! Save meeee!” I hear Hoodie rush in from the kitchen just over my loud laughter and right up next to Masky. I see him stare down at me for a second before jabbing Masky in the ribs. It gets him to stop, but EJ and Jeff still keep it up.

 

Hoodie looks up at Jeff, who just says, “I’m not stopping until she gives me my knife back.” Hoodie rolls his eyes I think, and then turns to EJ, who just seems to be enjoying making me laugh. With one last move of his hand, he finally stops and grins at Hoodie and I from what I see in the movement of his mask. He then gets up from his place on the couch and walks right up to Jeff. Jeff looks terrified and releases me, backing away from EJ.

 

“N-no, think ab-bout what you’re doing… please! NO STOP!” Jeff yelps as EJ lunges forward and tickles him behind his knees. Jeff falls to the floor laughing, which makes me want to laugh, but I am out of breath still. It doesn’t stop EJ, Masky, and Hoodie from laughing, though. Jeff writhes around on the floor, despite the fact that EJ had stopped tickling him.

 

“What is going on in here?” We all stop laughing and look up to the tall being that suddenly appears in the doorway. Jeff stays on the floor and turns his head back a little to look at his featureless face. “Never mind that, I would not like to know. Breakfast shall be ready shortly.” Slender voices through a small slit for his mouth before disappearing again right before our eyes.

 

We all look back at each other’s faces again and stare for a second before all of us burst out laughing again. A couple more people walk into the doorway and stare at us confusedly. I recognize one of them to be the guy I told to hide the knife, so I walk over to meet them.

 

“Hey, thanks for hiding that. I don’t think I ever got your name.”

 

“It’s BEN. With all capitals. This is Bloody Painter. BP for short, or you can call him Helen.”

 

The younger guy next to him moves his hand in response to BEN. I can sense the shy, but also very calm and disinterested aura around him. He isn’t wearing a mask, but I can see little bruises along his hairline from wearing one too tightly, or like one had been pulled and then let go to hit his face. He doesn’t have special eyes or anything from what I can see. I get a weird kind of impression of him.

 

“I’m (Y/n), nice to meet you. Umm, do you think I could have that knife back?” I rush ask him, a little creeped out by the other guy's expression (of all the things, though). BEN nods his head and takes his phone out from his back pocket, only to reach his whole hand into the screen and pull out the knife by the handle. He smirks a little when he sees my amazed and curious expression, but doesn’t say anything as he hands the knife back to me. “W-well, I’m gonna go. Nice meeting you.”

 

“Yep.” They both say. After they do, they look at each other with surprise at their unified response. I chuckle a little bit and walk away, groaning a little as I feel the spots around my stomach ache a little bit from all that laughing. I get an idea, not that it’s safe or anything, but I want to throw the knife at Jeff. I used to like throwing pencils and stuff like that at targets when I got bored, and I think I’m good enough to make the target, or slightly miss one on purpose.

 

“Hey Jeff, catch!” I yell at him and catch him off guard. I pull my arm back and throw the knife at him with a fluid motion. I watch happily as the knife leaves my hand and somersaults through the air towards my target. I know by the direction I threw it, if he misses, it won’t cause any damage. I don’t even have to worry about missing though, because Jeff’s hand flies up and snatches the knife out of the air to gently hold it in his palm.

 

“Nice throw.” He mutters under his breath, not intending for me to hear it. I had doubted that he was the type to give compliments, so it surprises me a little bit.

 

“Thanks.” I decide to tell him as I make my way to the kitchen; I’m curious as to what we are going to have for breakfast. Jeff’s eyes widen a little bit at my response as I start walking past him to the kitchen. It seems like everybody else has gone in there by now except for him. Too bad, they could have seen that epic knife throw.

 

I push open the swinging door and smile at the familiar smell of bacon and pancakes. I hear excited shouting from one end of the kitchen and see a teenage boy that looks to be about the same age as Helen. He jumps up and down excitedly as he watches Slender flip the pancake with the spatula he is holding.

 

“What have I told you about having weapons at the table, Mister Rogers. Please put them away until you are sent on a mission.” Slender says annoyedly as a couple of the black tentacles I had seen the day before flick silently back and forth behind him. “At least go and annoy Masky.” Slender grumbles under his breath.

 

I realize that there is a large dining room connected to the kitchen through an open doorway to my right, and I see Masky, Hoodie, EJ, and a few others sitting at the table already, just talking. As the boy named Toby makes his way through the doorway without noticing me, I see Masky’s mood dramatically darken.

 

I almost laugh at the grimace I imagine he’s making, but I quickly remember the dull pain in my stomach. I follow Toby with my eyes as he literally bounces up beside Masky, and just watch as Masky miserably covers his ears with both hands and lays his head down on the table. I decide to come to the rescue.

 

As I walk fully into the dining room, almost everyone goes silent. Almost everyone. Toby still rattles on about some random thing he did and how cool it was. I feel a large blush accumulate on my cheeks from all the attention and debate on whether or not I should just back up and run out to the living room again. EJ waves his hand for me to come and sit down with him and Hoodie, pulling me out of my trance a little bit. I cautiously start to walk towards them, and everyone seems to go back to their conversations.

 

I feel extremely relieved, and make my way over to them quickly. As I get closer, I realize that Toby is ticking a bit. I try to remember what the name of that mental condition is, and remember hearing it being called Tourettes. I feel a little pity for him, but he seems to ignore his little ticks and carries on with his one-sided conversation with Masky.

 

“Sorry for tricking you.” EJ says playfully as I sit down between him and Hoodie. Masky and Toby are across from us at the table, and Masky perks up visibly as he realizes that I have come back to them. “This is Toby.” EJ explains as Toby finishes his story and obnoxiously stretches his arm across the table.

 

“P-p-pleasure to m-meet you!” Toby happily exclaims as I see his hand slightly twitch. I lightly take hold of it and gasp a little bit as I feel how calloused and cut they are. I pull my hand away and stare down at it, seeing little lines of blood along my palm. “O-oh sorry. I forg-got I hadn’t ba-bandaged them this morning.” Toby scrambles for his napkin on the table and quickly hands it to me. As his hand gets closer, I see large purple bruises along his knuckles and around the bases of his fingers as well.

 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were hurt!” I apologize, thinking that it probably hurt when I took his hand.

 

“It’s okay. I didn’t know either!” He chuckles.

 

I stop my slight panicking and give him a puzzled look. He holds up a hand to almost say “wait, watch this”, and then picks up a silverware fork. My eyes widen as he stabs it into his hand. I flinch, but he clearly doesn’t and just holds his hand out to me to show me the fork that is sticking out of his hand.

 

“Toby, quit making a show. You know what Slender said about hurting yourself, and you know I’m the one who will have to clean you up.” EJ warns Toby without the slightest hint of worry in his tone, only annoyance. It just makes me look at the rest of the guys at the table, searching for some sort of surprise or worry.

 

“I can’t feel anything, don’t worry. I’m sorry I bloodied your hand, I was training this morning.” He motions towards a pair of hatchets strapped each side of his hip. I scold myself a little bit for not noticing something as obvious as that earlier. I reach forward and pull the fork out of his hand, watching as blood pools a little bit in the creases of his palm.

 

I give the napkin to him after wiping my hands off a little bit. Something about seeing blood doesn’t faze me as much as it used to. It seems like some sort of sick obsession, but I can clearly see that everyone at the table stares at his palm with the same slight curiosity that I hold in my eyes. Even Masky turns to look. I internally laugh a little at the thought that I could be in a house of vampires and not know the difference. Wait- are those actually real? If stuff like this is, then maybe....

 

I clear my mind and hold the fork limply in my hands, pointing the sharp end up towards the ceiling, watching the still warm blood drip down from the tip and creep along the handle until coming to pool at the top of my thumb and forefinger. The boys around me just watch as I twirl it around in my hand once, but I realize they’re staring and wrap the fork up in my own napkin.

 

“Uhh, so um, what are we having for breakfast then?” I ask as I try to change the subject. I had completely forgotten my earlier objective when I came into the kitchen and saw Toby.

 

“We’re having pancakes!” Toby exclaims excitedly right next to Masky’s ear. Masky flinches and puts his hands over his ears again. Hoodie, EJ, and I laugh, and I shake my head as Toby goes back to annoying Masky, only about pancakes and waffles this time.

 

Time Skip

 

After Slender brought out the food and set it on the table, we all just passed everything around until we were satisfied with our plates. More people- or rather, beings- came trickling in after the smell of pancakes and syrup made its way to the upper levels.

 

I hum to myself contently as I finish up the last bit of my pancake. All in all, they were phenomenally good, and probably the best I have ever had. Toby’s ranting about pancakes and waffles seem to make a little more sense to me after I have eaten them, but now that I have finished my plate, I don’t think I will ever be able to eat another one again with how full I feel.

 

I pick up the small glass of orange juice that I had poured and bring the cool glass to my lips. Just as I am about to take a drink, however, a rogue butter knife comes flying towards me from out of the blue, making me duck as a reflex. The knife misses me completely, but now I have other things to worry about. My juice has spilled all down my chest and into my lap. There is even some that sloshed out and onto my eyelashes. How? I have no clue.

 

“God dammit! Who threw that?!” I yell with an insane amount of fury building up in my orange juice covered chest. My harsh glare meets Masky’s first, and he looks terrified, but points in the direction of Jeff. I feel and see the inner part of my irises stretch themselves and lengthen my pupils to make them into slits. I automatically see more of the room and catch every little movement from every corner of the large room. “Jeff…” I growl deeply, and let my voice chords split into two different sets, matching two different pitches like they had the day before when I was torturing that guy back at my house.

 

“HEY! You two calm down. No murdering at the dinner table, or until it’s at least past twelve o’clock, please!” Slender yells from his place at the table. I hear a few people start placing bets, as they think that we will disregard Slenderman’s words and fight anyway.

 

I feel orange juice trickling down between the crease of my boobs, and it feels so odd, that I involuntarily shudder a bit. Hoodie puts a hand on my thigh under the table as I glare down the bridge of my nose towards Jeff. That catches me off guard, and I flick my eyes over to him to see just what exactly he thinks he is doing.

 

All anger melts away when I look at him. As I turn my slitted eyes to him, the enhanced properties allow me to see past the fabric covering them and into his eyes. There is a certain spark inside the swirls of brown that I can’t quite place, but it has such power in it, that I feel all of my thoughts of hurting Jeff rush completely out of my mind and replace them with curiosity of what that spark could be.

 

My eyes revert back to their regular state, and I feel my duplicated vocal chords fuse back together. I shake my head and blink my eyes, unhappy with not being able to see Hoodie’s eyes anymore through his mask now that my eyes have been dulled back down a bit. I accidentally let out a small whine of sadness, which makes him laugh as he squeezes my thigh lightly.

 

“Thank you.” Slender says as he senses my calms state. Hoodie and I just block out the rest of everyone for a minute, letting everyone grumble about not getting to see some action. What eventually brings us out of our trance is Masky clearing his throat a little too loud for it to be natural. We stare at him, and I giggle as I sense a little bit of jealousy from him. I plan to stop most of my flirting game for now and let things die down for a little bit- I don't want to end up hurting anybody.

 

I can almost see the sparks fly as Hoodie and Masky stare at each other across the table, but I just ignore them for now and focus on how sticky I feel with the orange juice completely soaked into my clothes and half drying on my skin. I feel a little relieved that I didn’t take that shower I was thinking about this morning.

 

“Are you done?” Hoodie asks as he motions to my plate. There’s nothing on it, but he takes the time to ask me first anyway. I nod my head, not taking my eyes away from my soaked clothes. He shoves his hand under my plate, surprising me. I didn’t think he was going to put my dishes away for me. I feel a little guilty.

 

“You don’t have to do that!” I burst out as he sets my plate on top of his. He gives me a look that almost says “yeah, I do” before stacking our cups and other trash on top of the plates. He turns around and starts walking out to the kitchen, so I jerk up out of my chair to follow him. As soon as I do, I regret it. My juice soaked clothes were clinging to my body and when I stood up, they readjusted, giving me a really yucky feeling. I screw up my face in disgust and shudder a little bit. I make a small reminder in the back of my head to definitely kill Jeff after the clock strikes twelve.

 

Masky gathers his stuff together across from me as well and follows Hoodie out to the kitchen. I slump my shoulders and walk after them, cringing at the sound my shoe makes against the wet floor.

 

As I reach the kitchen, I see that they have already thrown stuff away. They wait for me, and Hoodie runs a towel under warm water. My eyes widen a little bit and I wave my hands to tell them not to do that, but both Hoodie and Masky shake their heads. Hoodie wrings out the towel in the sink and walks over to Masky. He apparently had two towels, and gives one of them to him.

 

I back up a little bit as they come close to me with the towels. “Y-you really don’t need to do this, I-I-I can do it myself, thanks.” I stutter nervously as my back hits the wall of the kitchen and I hold up my hands in defense. Not many people would come into the kitchen at this time because we finished so early, but there is still a chance of being seen in an embarrassing situation.

 

Both Hoodie and Masky stand right in front of me as I still stand plastered to the wall. They look at each other mischievously, and I can just tell that they are smirking at each other under their masks. Oh god what have I done?

 

“Come on, you spilled it all over yourself, the least we can do to help you is clean off your clothes a little bit.” Masky says with a certain sultry undertone just barely recognizable under his comment. He looks at Hoodie again for some kind of signal, and Hoodie just motions with his head a little bit to go ahead.

 

I tense up as Masky places his open hand against the wall right beside my head, trapping me in between him and the wall. It makes my heart jump inside of my chest and beat loudly in my ears. I tone it down to where it is only a soft beating in my ears, and focus on the sounds that only Hoodie, Masky, and I are making.

 

Masky places the warm, wet towel against my hip first, then moves it up slowly until it barely brushes against the edge of my left breast. I feel Hoodie’s presence move a little closer to me and kneel down next to me. I flick my eyes towards him as he wraps one finger in the loop of my skinny jeans, pulling my hips a little closer to him.

 

While Masky moves his towel up and down my side again, Hoodie places his towel on the inside of my left thigh, rubbing up a little bit and getting dangerously close to my crotch. I let out a muffled whimper through gritted teeth as his free hand moves to reach the part of my leg where my ass joins with my thigh and puts a little pressure on it.

 

Masky moves his towel across my shoulder and along my collarbone until he reaches the middle of my chest. He moves his hand from the wall down to grab firmly onto my hip and pulls me a little closer. Hoodie then adjusts himself so his face is in line with the button of my jeans. He blows against the underside of my crotch through his ski mask, and because of the orange juice, it’s already wet, and I feel it clearly against my skin. I think I feel electricity dance across every inch of my skin and suddenly realize that I'm detecting their feelings again with my senses, but I don't know exactly what they are.

 

Masky sees the small trail of orange juice that had run down between my boobs, and starts moving the towel from the top middle of my chest languidly down to where the ends of the towel start to fall into the neck of my shirt. I shudder against them, and they laugh a little bit.

 

All of the sudden, something sparks in my mind as they keep up their movements. My skin feels hot, and I’m definitely having a tough time now that I have realized that my nerves are also about ten times more sensitive than they were before I “turned”, as they call it. The little spark in my mind grows and moves around my body like little flickering fireworks, warming my body a little more.

 

I’m cut out of my mind as Hoodie blows at me again. I jerk up a little bit, and accidentally bump into Masky, who lets out a little sound of surprise as I move my arms from my sides and cling to his back for support as my legs go a little stiff. As soon as I meet his eyes through his mask, I quickly avert them and shove my head into the crook of his neck in sheer embarrassment.

 

He goes a stiff at first, but then relaxes his hold on my hip and throws the towel off to the side. He laughs a little and pats my back. “I think you’re clean enough for now.” He says, and moves his head to look down at Hoodie. I feel Hoodie place his hand on the front of my thigh and squeeze it a little as he pushes against it to push himself up.

 

“Yeah, you can take your shower now…” Hoodie whispers softly to me as I push my face a little harder into Masky’s neck, for hiding my shame, and just because it’s warm. “We can take you up there if you want…?” He asks in the same soft tone.

 

I take my face away from Masky’s neck, feeling my body warm up from embarrassment, and I shake my head as I avert my eyes. I just hold my hand out. Masky puts the key in my hand and closes my fingers around it with his other hand.

 

I sigh and reluctantly push myself away from him to head upstairs. I feel so exasperated, and with my heart beating a mile a minute, I don’t notice the looks they give to each other, or the amused expression of the smiling killer that had originally caused all this mess. I just keep walking towards our shared room with the only thought of a nice, hot shower in my mind.


	9. An Enemy Approaches

I slowly make my way up the stairs holding onto the railing with a death grip. My knees feel like collapsing beneath me with every step I take. I think that I’ve had my fair share of excitement this morning, and need a little breather to just wash myself off in a nice, scalding hot shower. I can't say I don't deserve it, but it seemed like a little much for me to take. Then again... maybe not.

As I near the top of the stairs, I squeak as I feel gravity start to pull me backwards as my head goes a little dizzy. My hands scramble for the railing, but instead of cool metal, I feel a couple of soft hands grab a hold of mine and jerk me forward just before I can fall back. I tumble down onto the person with a loud “oof” and then try to push myself back up out of the person’s lap and onto my knees, but it’s no use, they have finally given out on me.

“Are ya alright?” I hear a silvery, feminine voice say with a hint of amusement in it. I look up at the woman to see a kind smile and crinkled eyes. Her complexion is pretty tan and she has a good amount of freckles dotting her cheeks and nose. I think I heard a little bit of a southern, North American accent in her tone too.

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks.” I say with an apologetic grin. She keeps her hands tightly intertwined in mine, so I feel a little awkward when a silence hovers over us.

“My name’s Sage, what’s yours cutie?” She lowers her emerald green eyes a little in a seductive type of look and lets her curly, gold-flecked brown hair falls over her shoulder from her ponytail, and I begin to feel a little more awkward with each millisecond that ticks by. I jerk away a little bit when she brushes her thumb against the back of my hand and along one of my knuckles.

“U-uh, (Y/n). I g-gotta go…” I stutter in a higher pitched voice. Something about her just sets my brain into a frenzy of panic; like it can sense that something is extremely wrong with her, but doesn’t want to bring it up into my conscious mind.

“Oh, well why din’t ‘cha say so? I’ll walk ya there.” In a quick motion that is almost too fast for my eyes to catch, she winks at me and jerks my up off of the ground with her. I tumble into her unwillingly and half expect her to drop me, but she catches me like I am just a ragged old doll in her hands. “You definitely can’t walk back to your room like this, now can you? Your legs are probably all worn out from all of… that.” Her tone suggests like she knows more than she really lets on. All of the nerve endings that she is touching fizzle and crack as she touches me. Something is definitely wrong with her, and as soon as I come to that conclusion, her eyes narrow and her jaw sets into place. “Oh, I have wasted enough time with this, let’s go.”

The harsh growl in her voice completely contrasts with her previous cheerful and kind tone. She tries to jerk my arm, but I keep my feet planted firmly to the ground. She snarls at me again and turns to glare at me, but her expression twists a little bit into fear as she looks past me and down the stairs. I follow her gaze out of curiosity and habit, but curse myself as she leans in right next to my ear.

“Fuck this. Bye bitch, see ya later.” She grumbles into my ear lobe, making me shudder from her hot breath and her frightening tone. I turn my head to look at her again, but she isn’t there. I still feel her ghostly hands holding tightly to my arms and hands, and automatically see small red marks of bruises, forming in the shapes of hand prints peeking out of the sleeves of my hoodie. I jerk them down to cover them as a small sense of fear and annoyance builds up in my chest when I look at them.

“(Y/n)? Are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost.”

I look back behind me and down the stairs to see EJ leaning on the railing at the edge of the first step. He peers up at me with an air of confusion and worry around him as he looks at my shocked and half terrified expression.

“Uh, no. Do you know someone named Sage? I uh... think I just met her...” I half rush out, my eyes flicking around nervously.

He does a double take and cocks his head to the side. He seems to think about something, but then shakes his head to himself and says a quick “no” without looking at me. I can’t help but think that he answers a little too quickly, and I already remember Jeff's offhand comment about someone named Sage this morning and how it made him react. I write it off for now and motion him up the stairs with enough urgency to make EJ sprint up as fast as he can.

Once he gets there, I feel a small bit of embarrassment for getting scared by her. It is overwhelmed by the need for me to be near somebody right now, though. He places a reassuring hand on my shoulder, which makes me flinch a little bit because Sage had pulled on it so hard. EJ mutters a slight apology, but murmurs about something to himself when he sees me favoring my forearm.

“(Y/n) pull up your sleeve, please.” He commands me with a serious voice that makes me feel like a little kid who scraped their knee and needs a band-aid. Still, I lightly pull the hoodie sleeve on my arm up so he can see the still burning hand prints tattooed onto my skin. He lightly takes hold of my forearm and gently twists it around to assess the damage. “I think it will go away in about a good 15 minutes with your accelerated healing.” He looks back up to me, and I feel my muscles relax a little bit as I sense that he is smiling kindly under his mask at me.

All of a sudden, the handprint on my arm sears with burning white-hot heat. I silently scream, my throat feels too hot and too dry. The burning feeling courses through my whole body and around all of my muscles, making my legs give out again at the strange and unpleasant feeling. EJ catches my body, and seconds later, the pain ebbs away into nothing.

I look down at the numbing skin on my forearm again and widen my eyes when I see that it is gone. EJ seems just as surprised as I do, but tries to hide it. I just shake my head as I look down at my arm again and feel it turn completely back to normal as if it never happened.

“Umm, do you mind waiting outside the door while I shower? I uh… just need someone to talk to and stay with for awhile.” I ask with a lacing of dread in my tone and look up at him as we crouch awkwardly on the floor with me in his arms. I feel like I can trust him not to be peeking in at me or anything, he seems too calm and in control of his mind to do that, and I think we have just hit it off in being strictly friends.

“Yeah, sure.” He murmurs as he helps me stand up again.

Time Skip

“So what hobbies do you have?” I half yell over the sound of running water. EJ is standing against the door right outside of the bathroom just chilling and being there for me. What a sweet dude.

“I like doing medical research. There’s always a new medical discovery to look up. I should actually go and continue my research on how to cure cancer after this.” He has loosened up a little with me after my incident with Sage, and keeps joking about this and that with me. I laugh a little bit to myself and rinse the rest of the shampoo from my hair.

“You’re such a nerd.”

“I’m not that bad, just look at BEN. He’s the pimple-faced gamer teen!”

“I’m going to bet that he heard you.”

“Wait hold on… yeah I just got a text from him telling me to fuck off.”

I laugh again and make sure to get the last of the orange juice smell from my body before turning off the water. I hear the door move a little bit and imagine him pushing himself away from his previous position of leaning against the door with one foot up against it and his arms crossed against his chest. I smile as I think about it and wring my hair out.

“Do you want me to get you clothes or something? I could try, but I really don’t know what your size is.”

“Nah, I think I will come out and get them myself.”

I take a towel from its spot on the shelf and wrap it tightly around myself. A couple of drops of water fall from my hair and run down my spine, making me shiver a little bit. I open the door and see EJ standing a few feet away with his back turned and one of his hands over the eye holes of his mask.

“I’m wearing a towel. You don’t have to do that.”

“You sure? What if it falls?”

“Well, you’re interested in the medical field, so I’m pretty sure you’ve seen enough naked female bodies to know exactly what I would look like. I’m not that ashamed of my body, really.”

“Well, you’re right you shouldn’t be ashamed of your body, I mean-”

“We don’t have to have this talk, you know.”

“Right.” He says with a hint of embarrassment as he brings his hands behind his back and looks to the side awkwardly. I giggle and walk over to the closet. Pulling a black band shirt from one of the hangars, I turn it around in my hands and look at the logo on the front. I recognize it to be Twenty One Pilots, and mutter a small “nice” under my breath.

I turn around to try to find a pair of skinny jeans and see that they are on one of the top shelves just out of my reach. I reach up a little bit and hold the shirt to my chest, but as I stand on my tiptoes, I sense EJ walk over next to me.

“Don’t strain yourself; I can get it for you.” He says with a hint of amusement sewn into his tone. He reaches up and snatches a grey pair off of the shelf easily. I pout at him and hold my hand out. He snickers at me and holds them above my head.

I growl at him and jump once, grabbing the jeans swiftly out of his hands, but I accidentally drop the shirt on the floor. As I reach the ground again I grumble about dropping the shirt and reach down to pick it up. I hold the towel securely around me with one hand and crouch down to get it, but I stop as I hear the bedroom door opening.

All of the sudden I start to feel embarrassed as I hear Masky and Hoodie walk in, only for them to stop in front of the closet and stare at me. I felt okay being only in a towel around EJ, but in front of these two I feel the need to cover up a little more. I wonder why, but I can’t really find the answer. Maybe it's because I'm a little "action"-ed out for today.

“What are you staring at?” I growl at them. I hear EJ chuckling behind me as they hightail it back out of the room. The door shuts again, and I laugh a little bit with EJ.

“Wait a second, so he can be in there with you but we can’t?” I hear Masky say just outside the door. This breaks us, and I end up holding my stomach I’m laughing so hard. Regardless of his comment, Masky and Hoodie wait outside of the door and chat a bit.

I have EJ turn around as I find a pair of tighter fitting black boxers and slip them on under the towel. I then pull the shirt on over the towel before letting go of it and watching it fall to a heap on the floor. I pull the grey pair of skinny jeans over my legs and hop once or twice to get them over my heels before buttoning them up.

“Okay, done.” I say happily. EJ turns around and I strike a pose, which makes him snort.

“Are you done yet?” I hear Masky yell impatiently through the door before hearing him let out a noise of pain and then a drawn out “owww”.

I walk over to the door and open it slightly. Masky is glaring at an amused and also slightly annoyed Hoodie while rubbing the back of his head. I open the door fully and lean on the door frame, crossing my arms over my chest and smirking at them.

“You needed something?” I ask with a laugh as I watch the two guys roughly playing around with each other.

They look at me with surprise before trying to shift their eyes from me. I hum and motion them into the room. They quickly move into the room and walk over to sit on Hoodie’s bed before waving slightly at EJ who had been leaning lazily against the wall by Masky’s bed.

I shut the door behind me and walk over to Masky’s bed before laying down on it, facing the boys, and propping myself up on my elbow. Hoodie can’t even look at me for more than a second before having to look away in embarrassment.

EJ notices this, but doesn’t say anything as we sit in an awkward silence. Masky looks like he might say something a couple of times but either Hoodie jabs him in the side or he just doesn’t say it.

“We have some board games I think…” Hoodie says after a few minutes of silence. I glance at EJ, and he shrugs.

“Why not?”

Time Skip

“I feel like I’m going to fall, you know. I think this thing is rigged.” I grumble as I have to move my hand to the annoying plastic blue circle and turn myself into a human pretzel in the process.

“You’re just mad because you’re losing!” Masky pokes fun at me while struggling to readjust his hand without taking it off of the mat, and I nudge him with my knee. He loses a little bit of his balance, but keeps himself upright. “You cheater.” He accuses me with what I think is a betrayed expression.

“Hm, what was that?” I throw back at him as Hoodie takes his turn and jabs Masky in the ribs with his foot before moving it to a green dot. Masky laughs and falls down on the mat.

“You lose Masky.” EJ informs him. I can hear the hint of amusement wedged under his casually calm tone. He spins the arrow on the spinner again and tells me to put my left foot on yellow, which is conveniently right where Masky’s face is. I evilly grin and quickly move my foot over to my unsuspecting victim before lightly placing my sock down on his mask. His eyes shoot wide open and he scrambles to get away from the mat as the rest of us laugh our asses off.

“You were right. Twister is pretty funny.” Hoodie chuckles.

“I know right?” I say as I turn my head to face Masky who is glaring daggers at me. It doesn’t look like he will forgive me soon. I smirk at him anyway.

“It looks like someone won’t be talking to you for the rest of the day.” EJ mumbles to me as we all stare back at him with not one hint of uneasiness as his glare intensifies.

“Aw, he’s a big boy, he’ll get over it.”

“That’s it!” He yells as he stomps back onto the mat and stands right between my legs. I just keep smirking up at him.

“This is quite the position we’re in, don’cha think?” I comment slyly as I see his face turn beet red even with his mask covering most of his face. He growls at me as my comment earns a couple of poorly hidden giggles from EJ and Hoodie.

“Yeah, I think I like having you spread your legs for me.” He shoots back at me as I laugh and admire his comeback. Dirty jokes are hilarious, but I feel my comebacks kind of running out.

“Oh yeah? Maybe I should do it more often.” I try to contain my laughter as I swear I can see him blow a fuse. He face palms and shakes his head before walking out the door. Seems like playing the joke on myself did work out.

“Wait! Come baaack! I was kidding!” I yell pleadingly towards him as Hoodie loses his balance from laughing too hard. EJ has covered his mouth to stifle a few snickers and shakes his head.

“No! I’m not talking to you!”

Hoodie pipes up from where he is sitting on the mat and yells out the door to him. “You better get back here and keep an eye on her! She might spread her legs for somebody else!” I shoot a warning but playful look to Hoodie who seems just as pleased with himself as I am.

Masky peeks his head through the door and I automatically can tell that there is a huge pout on his face. “I can’t express how much I hate all of you right now.” He deadpans. We go into another fit of laughter with Masky still looking very pissed off.

It takes us a minute to realize that I’m the last person standing in our game of Twister. I carefully untangle my limbs from one another and then let myself fall onto the floor in a heap. Masky laughs finally and walks over to my side.

“Ehhh, I can’t get up.” I grumble as my voice is muffled by the arm under my head. I raise my other arm and hold it in the air lazily while twirling my fingers around in the air a little. “Please help….” I groan.

Masky takes hold of my hand and puts it back down against my body before shoving his arms under my knees and shoulders. He lifts me up into his arms with ease, and I catch as slight bit of jealousy flash in Hoodie’s eyes. I feel a little confused by it at first, but that confusion quickly goes away when I feel just how warm Masky’s chest is. I bring my arms up and around his neck before pushing my body against him a little more to get as much warmth from him as physically possible. It's actually a bit cold inside of the house with so many people going in and out with fall dawning upon us, bringing cool temperatures way too early.

“We can just lay down and watch a movie or something if you want to.” Hoodie pitches. All I do is nod my head before letting out a comfortable sigh against Masky.

“That’s sounds pretty swell.” I mumble, earning a few chuckles from Masky since he is the only one who hears it. I smile at the small rumbling noises they make in his chest as I pull myself to him a little more.

“I’ll go make the popcorn then…” Hoodie says awkwardly as he and EJ walk out the door.


	10. Horror Flicks and Tricks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, I haven't updated since the beginning of this year. You might be thinking morgancatlovey WHAT THE FUCK?!, and you are fine to say that because I'm saying it too. I have been writing other stories though, so it is somewhat (but not really) excusable. I actually rewrote every one of these chapters today. I plan to start writing this more often again because that other story is ending. So here is somewhat of a regular smutty chapter and when I come back, I will have some more actual plot to bring to you. Hope you enjoy this chapter, and obviously, ovary warning.

“So, are we gonna go horror, or sappy chick flick?” I giggle as I thumb through a couple of movie cases. Horror and romance are the only genres of movies they even have inside the shelf.

Masky rolls his eyes and lazily crosses his arms over his chest. Hoodie pokes his head out of the closet at me and holds one finger up with a light grin on his lips.

I quirk my eyebrow at him and cock my head to the side as I pull a couple of the more romantic chick flicks out of my little pile of possible movies to pick from. “I wouldn’t have taken you for a horror movie fan.”

Masky falls back onto the bed across from me and sighs a little too loudly for it to be natural. Apparently I’ve unleashed a monster by mentioning horror movies from his reaction. Hoodie practically glows as he rushes over to stand in front of me. I look up from my crouched position and stare up into his giddy expression, trying to decide if I should run.

“Horror is my favorite, I mean, who doesn’t like getting scared shitless?”

Masky raises his hand in the air. “Me.” He groans, then lets his arm turn limp and fall against his chest with a light thump. I laugh and scratch the side of my head with one fingernail. I think for a second and remember times where I would scare the pants off of my little sister after watching a horror movie with her. If I got scared before it was over, I would crack a joke and laugh it off, and she would eventually laugh too after punching me in the arm a few good times.

“I guess you have a point there, but why would we want to watch one in the middle of the day? It should be dark at least…”

He holds up a finger and gives me a look that says “hold on a sec”, then walks over to the only window in the room before pulling a cord that was previously hidden behind the side curtains.

Two thick black drapes slide out from behind the regular curtains to cover all of the light coming through the window except for a small spot underneath. I smile and get up to turn the light off, feeling happy with how dark it will be in the room. I experimentally flick the switch off, which makes Masky shoot up from his relaxed position to figure out what’s going on.

“Guys, I swear this isn’t funny. Turn the light back on or I’m gonna leave. I’m not in the mood for this shit.” Masky warns us with a slight quiver in his voice. I can practically see the pout on his face even though I still feel a little blinded by the sudden change in light. After a few seconds I can see everything again with a tint of green and trudge back over to the stack of movies.

“How are you going to leave if you can’t see?” Hoodie quips as he slowly makes his way back over to me. He squats down next to me and shakes his head a couple of times, letting his eyes adjust before tapping his finger against a movie case and flashing me a smirk.

“I’ll get there… eventually.” He grumbles, then pushes himself off of the bed and moves to walk away, but in a sudden move, I am on my feet and standing in front of him to block him. He senses I’m there and tries to move back, but ends up falling back instead as his foot hits the bed. In a quick move his arm snaps out and grabs a hold of me out of reflex, so I end up falling with him against the bedspread.

I scrunch up my face in slight pain as my nose harshly collides with his, barely registering the suggestive position we’re in. I feel his hot breath against my lips, but refuse to think about it as I pinch the bridge of my nose to see if anything is broken.

“Oww, sorry about that, (Y/n).” Masky groans, and my eyes snap open at the gruffness that lingers under his usual tone. I can’t really understand why I catch onto it and let the tone run back through my mind, but something about it stirs a few butterflies in my stomach. Weird, I can't seem to remember eating any for breakfast. The butterflies' attack worsens as my thoughts linger on what happened shortly after breakfast, not helping my situation what- so- ever.

“N-no problem.” I quickly say back to him, cursing myself for the quick response, hoping he doesn’t catch onto my nervousness. Thankfully he doesn’t, too preoccupied with the pain in his own nose. We both stop for a second as we realize that he still has a firm grip on my wrist, and he snaps his hand away as we laugh sheepishly. I sit back up and realize that our hips are practically molded together, unintentionally squeaking as my dirty mind sends a few less-than-appropriate thoughts through my consciousness. I've learned that a dirty mind can be fun at times, but it can also be a really annoying hindrance.

I scramble off of him and stand stiff as a board right in front of him, watching as he sits back up and sniffs, wiggling his nose a bit before setting his gaze on me again. My shoulders go extremely tense and my heart beats hard against my chest as I stare into the half-lidded eyes peering into mine, almost having a heart attack when I feel a light hand rest against my shoulder.

“I have the movie queued up in the player. You ready?”

I feel my shoulders relax a little bit as my focus shifts over to the mini movie player on Hoodie’s bed, just now noticing the faint glow of the screen.

“Oh, yeah. Masky, are you going to chicken out or stay here with us?”

He shoots me a playful glare and keeps his mouth shut, answering by letting himself fall back against the bed again. Hoodie shakes his head at him and turns to me again, catching me off guard as the light from the TV glints in his eyes. I surprise myself by being able to fully see the milky brown in his eyes instead of a dark shade of grey despite how dark it is. It's weird seeing just how much “snapping” has changed the little things in my life, but I end up pushing the thoughts to the back of my mind as he throws himself on the bed next to Masky, leaving some room in the middle for me.

I grab the popcorn that Hoodie had brought up earlier when he told us that EJ had said he needed to finish up some medical documentation down in the lab. I hand the large bowl to Hoodie and crawl in between the two guys, snuggling against them and the wall before deciding the wall is a little too uncomfortable for my liking. I grab a couple of pillows and shove them behind all three of us until we all release a collective sigh in comfort.

Hoodie holds up the control and presses the play button while I kick off my shoes again, and as music fades into the room, the small sounds of the creaky bed springs and the rustling of us shifting the popcorn around in the bowl disappear. I don't recognize the beginning sequence or the characters, so I feel a little excited to be able to get surprised and scared by what happens.

I glance over at Masky to see him trying his hardest to stay cool, but the way his legs are pressed so tightly up against each other and how he bites at his lips gives him away immediately. He catches my teasing look and pouts a bit, but jumps in the next instant as the monster makes his appearance to the protagonist.

Hoodie and I laugh at him as he growls and grumbles at the screen, but he instantly quits as I snuggle up against his side even more. I feel his muscles tense up a little more but then slowly relax into me as I watch him try to figure out if he should put his arm around my side. It's kinda cute, and tame enough for me right now.

Hoodie huffs at the screen and crosses his arms as the monster kills one of the protagonist's friends, not easing up on the gore despite its PG-13 rating. I feel my skin crawl along my legs as I think about the last place I saw so much blood, but the thought escapes me as Hoodie opens his mouth.

"Jeez they could have at least made it realistic. I mean, blood doesn't spatter that way, it isn't water. The spatter would be thicker and sticky, like paint. 10 out of 10 kill points though."

"I swear if you start up your commenting habit again I'll personally show you how blood spatters." Masky playfully warns Hoodie.

Hoodie and I roll our eyes and we all giggle at the empty threat. I push into Masky's side a bit more, but feel Hoodie scoot a little closer to the middle, trying to get closer to us. A little mischievous smile forms in the corner of my mouth, and as I slide my upper half down a little more so I'm cuddling into Masky's side and not his shoulder, I also stick my ass out a little bit so I brush against Hoodie, then I wrap one of my legs around his so the both of them are equal. I know I said I wanted to kind of ease up on it... but with the thoughts of what happened yesterday coming back, I want another distraction.

I can't see Hoodie's face, but I don't have to. I can already tell that he's blushing about twenty different shades of pink. I almost jump a little as I feel his hand gently brush against my hip, which has become a bit uncovered due to all of this shifting around. I feel only little ghosting fingers against the peak of my hipbone, but then his warm hand comes to rest there and I feel him moving on the bed behind me.

Now it's my turn to blush; the movie one of the last things on my mind right now as Hoodie turns on his side, props his head up on his elbow, turns his hips and barely pushes them up against mine, then further tangles his legs up into my own. After he moves, I can feel his soft, warm breath against the back of my neck, tickling me as the smaller wisps of hair on my head softly swish against my skin.

I almost don't hear Masky ask me if I liked the movie; I'm so distracted by the slow rise and fall of Hoodie's chest rubbing against my back. I shake my head and look at the movie again, seeing a mess of white letters rolling down a black screen as the theme music plays in the background. I hurriedly reply with a small "yes" that almost sounds like a squeak.

Hoodie laughs behind me at my response, making me feel every little rumble and jerk of his chest. I try extremely hard not to focus on how the button of his jeans keeps catching on my back belt loop. I don't have to do much because Masky moves his body down to relax flat against the bed from his reclined position, closing his eyes as he turns and faces me.

He squeezes my shoulder and lightly smiles. "I don't think I want to leave the room, can we just take a nap?" He groans. My eyes keep flicking down to the way he keeps his lips open to breathe, letting them move only a fraction of a millimeter as he breathes in and out.

"S-sure, I guess."

"Great." They both mumble. Masky's hand stops squeezing my shoulder and trails down my arm until he reaches my fingertips, flicking the pads of his fingers against them before moving down to my hip, stopping when he touches Hoodie's hand. I fear that they might end up fighting each other or something as I hear a small hitch in both of their breathing, but they go back to normal after a few seconds. Masky's hand leaves my skin for a second, and I think he is giving up, but no sooner than I think of it, he laces his fingers with Hoodie's on my hip; Hoodie's thumb resting on my backside and Masky's tracing small circles around my jutting hip bone.

It surprises me so much that when Hoodie presses that button on his jeans that has been bothering me even more into my skin, I accidentally release a tiny, breathy moan into Masky's side. It doesn't help that Masky presses his thumb into the fleshy part of my hip, almost a little too close to the warm space in between my legs.

My hips jerk forward against my will, carrying their hands with them about an inch before settling back to their original spot. Hoodie moves his other hand up to sweep my hair off of my neck before nuzzling his forehead into it. His eyelashes drag against my skin as he tightens his grip on my hips a small enough bit for me to almost not notice. My brain searches for a reason why he would do that, but is given the answer shortly as he moves his hips forward again. He tries to disguise it as shifting to a better position, but my sex trained dirty mind quickly informs me that it was an obvious grind against me.

I involuntarily shudder with a mix of excitement, arousal, embarrassment, and... fear? I silently ask myself exactly why I should be scared, but the search comes up with only "oops, sorry that's classified". I growl a tiny bit on accident, confused by my emotions. It brings forth a couple of chuckles from the two of them, and then adds an unhealthy dose of heat to my belly and my face.

I take my arm that has really been laying there with nothing to do and drape it over Masky’s side, lightly fisting the material of the back of his shirt. I try to brush away the scared feeling as the boys let up on the teasing actions and start to slow their breathing. I bury half of my face into the pillow and allow myself to clear my mind from conscious thought, then let it wander through threads of story lines, picking up the small strings to weave them into a dream.


	11. Revisiting Terror

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Don't worry, you're not missing anything if you find yourself a bit confused. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> EXTREME sensitive material, and GORE

A tapping. A soft, repetitive tapping at the very edge of my earlobe. That seems to be the first thing I notice, then other sounds join in, making a sort of cacophonous noise in my eardrums, but never sounding particularly annoying or inharmonious as they build upon each other. In fact, they feel comfortably familiar, and soothe me as I stay still. I keep my eyes shut and tilt my head curiously, pulling a few more sounds from around me into my ears.

I curl my fingers into what feels like cloth and find that there is a blanket on top of me, instantly feeling the secure and warm feeling it brings, and a plush, cushiony feeling below me. I open my eyes just a crack to find the familiar sight of my window right next to my bed, its view pointing out into my dismal neighborhood's dimly lit street. I always thought the neighborhood itself carried a burden of sorrow; the houses never decorated for holidays; the neighbors never getting together for friendly gatherings; even the grass in everyone's yards always bore a look of dry loneliness. I press my lips together, working a bit of sleepiness out of my system and moving my hand up to comb a few loose strands of hair back from my face, scrunching my nose up in a bit of disgust as I feel a bit of drool on my pillow.

I slowly sit up with my hand against my forehead, looking around my bed confusedly and wondering how I got here when I clearly remember falling asleep in the mansion. Or maybe, I just never went to the mansion or even met Masky on the way home...? Maybe that was all a dream, but before my thoughts can get too far, my head aches and my eyes strain a bit, making me shut them tightly to work out a bit of the pain in my temples.

I look outside the window for a minute, but when the pain doesn't fade, I lay back down on the bedspread and try to sort out my thoughts as I stare into the empty street. 

"(Y/n)?" I hear the soft, mouse-like voice of my little sister at my bedroom door. If she said it any louder, it might have scared me, but its actually soothing to hear her voice.

"Yeah, kid?" I blink as I think I see something dark leaking out of one of the upper level windows of the house across from us. When I try to look closer, I hear Lilly open her mouth again- a certain quiver in her voice this time that makes me listen.

"U-um, I had a r-really bad dream... and I was wondering if I could sleep with you tonight?" I can hear her wringing her hands nervously like she usually does when she doesn't want to bother anybody, but silently pleads to be comforted, and feel a slight sadness come over me. The vivid images of her death still there everytime I close my eyes.

"Sure, come here Lil." I pat the space of the bed behind me and shut my eyes again so I can try to go back to sleep with her- deciding that my time in that strange household with those strange beings was only a vivid dream. However, deep inside of my chest, a dull, heavy ache swallows my heart up in a hot, thick liquid that constricts my breathing.

"(Y/n)?"

"Yeah?"

"C-can I tell you my dream?"

"Sure, kid. Go ahead." I remember this ritual. With both of us regularly being plagued by nightmares since we we little, we learned to cope by confiding in each other. Plenty of pointless doctor's visits and incurable medications later, it seemed to be the only thing that made the nightmares a little easier to forget.

She sighs like a weight is somewhat lifted from her chest, then she takes in a sharp, shuddery breath and begins. "Well, it started with me, Mommy, and Daddy waiting for you to come home from work. Mom had made a special dinner for you because she thought you had been independent and very responsible this past year, and couldn't wait until your birthday to give it to you, especially because you were going to move out soon. I think she was just sad, but I couldn't really tell. Daddy made her hold back on the cake though, which I thought was funny... But anyway, you must have forgot to call us, because it got pretty late and you still weren't home. Mom got a little worried, but Dad calmed her down and insisted that we wait on the couch and watch TV until you got home."

"Dang I was kinda being a jerk, sorry kid." I joke with her, she softly laughs. Something heavy pulls at my mind, though I can't figure out what it is- all I know is that it is putting me on edge.

"So, we waited for a while, and Mom fell asleep on Dad's shoulder, then Dad went out too a few minutes later- you know how he is. I took the remote and was flipping through channels when I thought I heard some cats fighting out in the street or something, and I brushed it off at first, but then it got louder and sounded more... human, but yet not."

She shudders behind me, and snuggles into the covers a little bit more. I would reach out to her, but she doesn't like to be coddled so much, and will quit opening up and hold it in more if I do. If she needs to be comforted, she will initiate it.

"I got up from the couch and looked out of the front window, but I couldn't see anything, so I went back to the couch and tried to wake Daddy up, but he was pretty much out cold. I looked at the birthday dinner Mom had made and thought of you, and decided to put on a brave face for you. I sat back down with Mom and Dad and kept a sharp watch outside the bay window, but I never found anything. I was so focused on the front of the house that I never saw them come from behind. Three of them grabbed Mom, Dad, and I. I tried to kick, but they tied me up before I could do anything, and Mom and Dad were too groggy and shocked to fight back right away. I think that they thought that it was you trying to scare them..."

She sniffles and grasps onto the back of my shirt, pressing her forehead in between my shoulder blades, stifling her small cries.

"I'm so sorry, Lil-"

"No, there's more. It gets worse."

That heavy feeling in my mind jerks harder and harder at my consciousness, wrapping its lethal, warning hands around my brain. My eyes widen and my heart rate picks up to an unsteady pace.

"They tied us up, and took out knifes. Their leader sharpened his knife right in front of us, a stainless steel kitchen knife with gold trim on the handle; part of the kitchen ware you bought for Mom and Dad on their anniversary last month... He saw the fear in my eyes, he went for them first. Their ears first, then their eyes- making them watch him as he cut out one eye, then slowly feel themselves go blind in the other. Mom... she was screaming... and Dad had a pained, crying voice, and he kept telling me through yells that he was sorry and that he loved me, and that Mom loved me, and that he felt like he had failed me even though he couldn't even hear himself speaking to me anymore. He told Mom that he loved her one more time even though she couldn't hear him, and the second man cut out his tongue. I heard him choke to death on his own blood. He went first, then Mom, then they came for me...."

Her warm hand turns cold almost instantly, and her grip against my back becomes painful. My heart beats faster and faster and my eyes widen in unimaginable horror. The thoughts of ‘it wasn't a dream, it wasn't a dream’ run through my terror filled brain. The dread practically crushes my skull with pain. I slowly turn my head to look at my sister.

"Did you know.... that a soul stays in its host for an hour after death... to be sure of its decision of going to paradise, inhabiting a new body, or roaming the Earth? Even if we decide right away, we will stay there for one more hour... seeing everything- feeling everything."

I turn to meet her gaze and see her once beautiful face; the color of a pale pink rose with equally vibrant green eyes. I see her playfully reassuring smile gracing her tiny lips. I watch as it sinks into her teeth and breaks up into tiny little pieces of skin and clumps of blood before drying into nothing but dust, coating her teeth in a grey chalk. Her eyelids recede and her eyes melt into a blackish blood, running down her face in thick streams. She brings her hand up to my fear-stricken face, brushing her hand along my cheek and smearing blood and skin onto it.

"Why haven't you got our revenge yet... (Y/n)?" My horror induced paralysis breaks away from me and I shove myself off of the side of the bed, crashing to the floor and scrambling up onto my feet. I watch the remaining muscles on my sister's face turn into a frown.

"What?" Her voice turns demonic and scratchy. "Are you scared? Of your own sister?" She mocks me with a dark laugh.

I run to the door and jiggle the knob, letting out a sob as I find that it is locked. I hear Lilly get up from my bed, her joints snapping in places, and her teeth grating back and forth in a sickening scratching noise.

"Remember what they did to me? Why? Why haven't you got revenge yet? Do you really love me like you say you do?" She sneers.

I press my back against the door, contemplating running towards the window and jumping out of it, even though I know I will break my legs if I fall. Then, one clear thought comes through my mind. If the other world wasn't a dream, then this is.

"Stop. You're not real, you can't be." I can't help the quivering in my voice. Somehow I don't believe the words coming out of my mouth.

She grins maliciously, baring her teeth in a way that permits her to smile. "Oh I am very real, believe me, and I will get the job done. So I don’t need you anymore." She takes one last step towards me, cutting off my window exit. She takes another and stands on her tiptoes so she is mere millimeters from my face. I can smell the rotting stench of decay and practically taste the blood on my tongue.

"Bye bye, big Sis." In a flash, her hand is clasping around my throat with a strength beyond any human capabilities. She jerks me up off of the floor, making my legs kick out to try and hit her, my brain in an unhealthy state of panic. A harsh, raspy choking noise claws its way out of my throat, making me realize the gravity of the situation. She is real, and I will die, and for some reason, my newfound abilities are nowhere to be found right now. I'm no match for her in this state.

Black static starts fizzing around in my sight, the malevolent and evil smile of my sister starting to blur out of view. My lungs feel on fire, but my body feels extremely cold. I feel tearing and burning in my throat, and feel my fingers and toes tingling with numbness, my legs losing the effort to kick out and hit, hanging limply against the wall, where my arms join them in the next few seconds. The burning fades out into a simple mind numbing cold, and I feel my mind slipping away peacefully, my mind being unable to process any last thoughts.

All of the sudden, I can see a bit again, and only slightly feel my body hit the floor with a limp, heavy thud. I cough and sputter, my lungs igniting with a hotter fire than before as air reaches them again and floods the rest of my body. I hear a familiar voice, and feel someone turning my body over, but my body is still too busy being numb and spasming to be able to think properly again.

I recognize a face that would probably make me cry and laugh and yell at the same time if I could.

"I'm here. What happened?" He asks with an insane amount of worry etched into his eyes. His mask hangs halfway off of his chin, and I notice his raspy breath along with mine.

My brain, still numbed from the near-death encounter, whispers for me to shut my eyes and just let my body rest for a while, promising to me that it will get everything up and running for me when I wake up again, so I give in and shut my eyes.

I don't get to rest though, jolting awake and slamming up into a sitting position with a hoarse throat that still allows an almost inhuman scream to rip its way out of the bruised airway. I throw myself so far as I jerk awake that I throw myself onto the floor and land with a nauseating snap of bones that add onto the pained screeching. I scoot back along the floor, my brain throwing an image of what I think is my sister hiding under the bed into my consciousness to scare me even more.

I stare with wild eyes at the space where I thought I saw my sister and press my back against the bed across from it with such a force, I feel the ligaments in my back popping.

"(Y/N)!!!" I hear a voice I recognize as I stop screaming, but I'm already stumbling out the door with the realization that I broke one of my legs from my original fall, but not caring one bit as I feel adrenaline pumping through my system like the air I so desperately need.

I reach the door and fall out of it as the bone in my leg splinters from further abuse, but I don't give up and instead turn myself upside down, using my other leg as force to push me out of the doorway and scramble backwards away from it and into the hallway.

I bite my finger to hold back a scream as a fiery pain shoots through my leg and chest, another different burning sensation that feels more comforting than the last two did, but still scares me half to death. This time, not as excruciatingly literal. I feel my heart stop as I see someone rushing out of the door just as the fiery tingling goes away, and automatically think it is my demonic little sister.

I turn around and try to get up again, this time being able to run on both legs for a reason that I don't feel like dwelling on for fear of being choked to death again. I take off running full speed down the hallway and rush into the living room, spotting someone I know out of the corner of my eye, but not caring to figure out who it is over the intense need to get away.

I hear my name being yelled by more than one odd voice, but I'm already outside the door and running into a clearing of grass that leads to a dense tree line. I make a beeline for the trees, but reel back as a large black and white thing appears in front of my eyes and blocks my path when I get about halfway there. 

"What is wrong?" The thing says through razor-sharp teeth that remind me of Lilly's exposed jowls.

I scream out an almost unintelligible sentence as I turn to my right and attempt another beeline towards the trees. "I'M SORRY LILLY, I'M SO SORRY!" I scream out through tears that force their way out of my eyes so hard that blood intermixes with the clear, salty liquid.

The thing appears in front of me again, but before I can change directions again, five black, wiry tentacles wrap around my arms and legs, and as I see the last one approaching my head, I feel my vocal chords split again, this time tearing apart into four sets instead of easily duplicating into two.

A shrill scream comes out of my mouth that I've never heard before, and is as loud as being right next to a tornado siren, but just as deadly as what it is intended to warn you of; the four tones shattering the first floor windows of the house and actually making large cuts into the thing's flesh. The thing is so surprised at the cuts that it drops me in shock, allowing me to stop screaming and run around him to the trees at a pace that I automatically recognize as easily doubling my original accelerated running pace.

I dodge trees and logs and even falling leaves with incredible accuracy and concentration, never stopping once until I get to a small clearing of a lake, where I accidentally run halfway into the water, and immediately feel myself sinking. Fear of more asphyxiation pushes me to swim back to the shore at break-neck speed.

Once I get to the shore, the panic of my mind finally settles, and my brain catches me up to speed. My eyes widen as I realize my hallucination of Lilly being under the bed, and the voice of both Masky and Hoodie pleading for me to stop, and BEN staring confusedly after me, and then finally the gravity of the realization that I actually caused damage to Slender when he tried to calmly stop me. I then notice the way my broken leg healed at the stinging feeling of hot fire like it did when Sage left marks on my arm. I also realize how crowded my throat feels with four different vocal chords inside of me. I remember learning about the anatomy of vocal chords back in school just enough to know they aren't actually chords, but flaps, and the way they are placed in my neck feels like the muscles cloned themselves and split into four different flaps of muscles with differently tightened parts, pushing outwards and painfully against the side of my throat. I sigh and let my hand drop, not wanting to think about stuff like this anymore.

The now bloodied tears slink down my face again and join a few beads of sweat that have formed on my cheeks. I bring my knees in and rock on the ground, the horrible nightmare ingrained into my mind. I bring a hand up to my neck, feeling harsh, hand-like bruises along with little pieces of dried flesh and blood caked around my collar bones. And then I realize it: that was no nightmare. She actually visited me in a dream, and tried to kill me, and the only thing that saved me was Masky's presence.

I hide my head in my arms and let myself softly cry out the rest of my fear. I eventually hear soft footsteps on leaves from behind me, and turn to see that EJ has followed me. I give him a sideways look as he emerges from the forest with a troubled expression. I turn back around and stretch my legs out towards the water, using my toes to take off my water and mud soaked socks.

"So... what happened?" EJ tries as he sits down next to me, crossing his legs under him.

"My sister... she visited me in a dream." I say with a cold expression.

"Oh... what...?"

"She was killed by those men, and she told me... she told me that she could see and feel everything one hour after she died. She felt herself get-" I choke into a sob. "She felt herself get raped, and I haven't gotten revenge. She said she chose to stay and get revenge instead of going to paradise or inhabit another body." I turn to him, bloody tears streaming down my face in little rivers. "I felt her- watched her body decay in front of my eyes. And then she almost strangled me to death for my incompetence." I spit the last word, and stare at the dirt, glaring at a single, wriggling worm crawling from the soil.

He stays silent, and in the moment, I can't thank him enough. It's all I really need. A friend to be there and just understand. I turn to him after a bit of my sudden anger fades, and see him raise his arms in a silent question. I lightly grin for the first time in what feels like forever, and scoot towards him, letting him envelop me into a hug.

 

He brings his gloved hand up and softly pets my hair as I let out little shuddery breaths into his shoulder, my shoulders still shaking from the lasting effects of almost dying.

"You know, you shattered BEN's TV." He jokes as my shaking dies down.

I pull away a little bit and laugh slightly.

"You should have seen him, stomping around the house like a child who just got his teddy bear taken away. I think you even shattered some plates that were left in the sink from this morning. Slender wasn't even the slightest bit mad though, so that's good. He's good at sensing things."

"I'm glad he's not mad. I cut him up pretty bad." I place a hand on the back of my neck and look away sheepishly.

"Yeah, I came as soon as I got done patching him up. Masky and Hoodie wanted to come, but Slender refused."

"I'm glad that you came instead... just don't tell them. If I saw Masky, I probably would have gone back into hysterics."

"It did take me almost an hour of intense running to get here though, so you are gonna have hell to pay after you get better again. And just know that I have all of your ticklish places down to memory." He says with a playful grin that pushes up the corner of his mask.

"Are you serious? It took me minutes to get here." I say incredulously.

"Are you sure?" He says a little skeptically.

"I think I would know." I lightly punch him in the arm. He laughs and rubs at the place I hit him a little bit with a fake pained hiss.

"So, I think we should start to head back before it gets really dark. You know, there's a lot of scaaary stuff out in the forest at night." He pokes fun as he stands up and brushes off his hoodie and skinny jeans. He holds out a hand, and I take it, pulling myself up next to him. "Will you let me take care of that when we get back to the house? My lab slash room is in the basement, and I think BEN would annoy the crap out of you if you were to stay upstairs and eat dinner with everyone."

"Yeah, that sounds good."

We start walking through the forest, and I revel in the feeling of cool gusts of wind blowing through my hair and along the tops of my bare feet as we walk back. My feet miraculously don't get cut on anything, and I don't step on any uncomfortable rocks or sticks as we go along.

"Hey EJ? I wanted to tell you something." I mutter with my eyes shut as the wind blows across my eyelashes again.

"Yeah, what is it?"

I open my eyes again and look down at my leg as I walk without any pain whatsoever going through it, and then feel along my neck to notice that most of the pain from the bruises has been replaced with a light prickling sensation that feels more soothing than painful, yet they are still there.

"I broke my leg earlier. When I jerked out of the bed, I landed at a wrong angle. And when I tried to run out of the room, obviously I was limping to get away, because I thought I saw my sister under the bed. But when I got to the hallway, I felt that extreme burning feeling again, and my leg healed itself almost instantaneously."

"Seriously? Completely healed in seconds?" He stops in his tracks and looks at me with intense curiosity.

"Yeah. Not even a scratch left."

He crouches down in the leaves and examines my legs with a hand under his chin, cocking his head inquisitively. After a few seconds he stands back up and looks me straight in the eyes.

"Do you mind if I check it out further when we get back? You may have to take off your pants... just warning you."

"EJ, I literally walked around in nothing but a towel right in front of you. I think I'll be fine." I laugh.

He ruffles his hair up and laughs. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Hey, one more thing." I mumble as he goes to turn around. He looks back at me, silently asking what it is. "Thank you for coming to calm me down. It means a lot."

"Don't worry about it. It's what friends do." He reaches forward and ruffles up my hair with a teasing grin.

"Race you back? I'm done with walking."

"Sur-"

"Ready, set, go!" I yell as I take off running.

"HEY! I wasn't ready!" He yells after me, catching up a few seconds later.

The feeling of dread still lingers in my chest, and the fear of Lilly coming back still terrifies me, but for right now, I know my objective, and I plan to stick to it: get revenge to allow my sister to finally rest in peace, and then live my life dwelling in the present- not the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the chapter even though it was kinda creepy and depressing. But it's up early and furthers the plot so.... yay??? Anyway, hope you enjoyed!


	12. What are Friends For?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I decided to kind of flesh out the brother-sister type relationship between EJ and the reader. I don't have a true brother or sister, but I have a guy friend that basically is one, because I've known him and lived next to him for almost 14 years of my life. I want to keep this relationship a friendly, playful one, but still have those sibling-type spats that I commonly have with my guy friend.
> 
> Also, some crucial plot information mixed in there too. And sorry for not updating, I turned 16, and had been planning and preparing for my party as well as just spending a bit more time than needed planning better content for upcoming chapters. So anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

"If we sneak around the back there's a set of doors that lead down the hallway to where the door to the basement is. And also, if there's somebody in the way, there's a secret passage in the study that not many people know about."

 

"You make it sound like we're fugitives."

 

"We kind of are. Well... not me, but you. With all of the glass in the first level shattered from that scream, BEN will try to murder you if he sees you, and if you broke any of Jane’s mirrors, she’ll have a sharpened stake with your name on it. Oh, and I think she has just gotten into a little kinkier things lately, so you better figure out the safe word before you get caught and used for practice."

 

"That's really reassuring."

 

"You're welcome. Anytime." EJ smirks and takes an exaggerated bow.

 

I roll my eyes with a scoff and cross my legs over one another, grunting a little in pain as a stray branch scratches the back of my thigh through the fabric of my soaked jeans. EJ insisted that we climb a freaking tree so that we could see if there was anyone waiting for us because it's a little hard to see from the treeline at twilight. Really I just think he's so dead set on getting me to the basement so he can see if I was telling the truth about my miraculous healing, and then to make me some sort of lab rat, but I don't really care right now. I would like to stay away from people for a bit longer anyway. I cross my arms and lean back a little so that my back rests against the trunk, closing my eyes.

 

The last time I climbed a tree had to be at least five years ago. I laugh softly as I remember the back of my favorite shirt getting snagged on a random branch, and struggling for at least an hour trying to reach up and dislodge it without ripping the fabric.

 

"You just better have something to eat down there. All this running has made me starving." I turn my head to EJ as I lazily peek through my eyelids.

 

"Well, I do, you just might not like it."

 

"You better not say you're vegan."

 

EJ snaps his head towards me and almost loses his balance laughing.

 

"I mean, I'm just joking, I don't care. You do you, boo." I try to say with a straight face, and almost fail, but still manage to keep it together. EJ stifles his laughter by sliding a hand up under his mask and holding it over his mouth, his body jerking a bit with every laugh. I almost make it out of the blue, but as soon as I hear EJ accidentally snort, I absolutely lose it, joining him in trying to quiet my giggling.

 

Once we finally calm down, EJ looks at me with a slight smile that I actually see for the first time because he still has his hand under his mask. I open my mouth to ask about it, but he pulls his hand out from under his mask and shoves himself off of the tree branch, shocking me. A pang of panic goes through my chest as I think of about how far up we climbed to get to this spot; about fifty feet at least.

 

I hurriedly look down over the side of the branch we were sitting on to see him land below me with an almost inaudible thud, then stand back up and turn to me, waving for me to follow him. I look down at him like he's insane and stick to swinging myself down to the branches below me with careful precision. There's no way in hell I am crazy enough to let myself fall from this height, especially with the pain of breaking my leg still fresh in my mind.

 

I can just see EJ rolling his eyes- if he had them- as I climb down, with him already crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently at me. I make it down in less than two minutes- in sopping wet clothes too- so I don't know why he is silently complaining.

 

I land on the grass with a soft thud as I jump for the last 10 feet. EJ uncrosses his arms and playfully scoffs. "Took you long enough, chicken."

 

"Psh, I'm sorry if I didn't want to commit suicide today."

 

"Hate to break it to you, but you would have to fall approximately 152.4 meters to actually somewhat kill your current body."

 

"Hate to break it to you, but did you know that you have a very large branch wedged up your ass?" I jokingly retort and jab my thumb up in the air right in front of his face.

 

"No, has anybody informed you that the tip of your pinkie finger is bigger than your brain?" He pokes my chest with the end of his pinkie finger and grins behind his mask.

 

"Oh, you're gonna regret that." A wolfish grin makes its way onto my mouth.

 

"Probably... but for now, we have a good window to get down into the basement." He nods his head in the direction of the house, and I see that nobody is in any of the rooms facing us. "The study is the first door on your right as soon as we get there, and the other basement door will be the third on your left. Ready?"

 

I nod, and we take off running towards the doors, making it there without a hitch. I get there first and prop open the door, peeking in. As soon as I see that there isn't anybody in the hall, I hold the door for him and slip through, walking silently along the wall of a hallway that looks like something that has been directly pulled out of 'The Shining'. I look around me in wonder before stopping in my tracks- I hear voices down the hall and see one of the doors open.

 

I grasp the knob of the first door on my right and push it open, cringing as an insanely loud creak comes from its hinges. Both EJ and I stop and listen hard for anyone, and when we don't hear anybody move, we rush forward into the room.

 

I didn't get a very good look at it as I came in because of the creakiness of the door, but now that I am standing inside the room, I really don't ever want to leave. The ceilings are high and the room is perfectly lined with immense, rich black-cherry-colored wooden book cases that are absolutely stuffed with all kinds of books, leaving barely any space for anything else in between them besides a couple of small windows at the far edge of the room and a bay window on the right side of the room. Plush maroon furniture is spread all around the room and matched with desks and coffee tables to where it looks more like an extremely well funded library than a study. Nonetheless, its warm, classical feel and stunning beauty automatically makes you stop and look around in wonder.

 

"This is the quietest place in the house besides my room for... obvious reasons." EJ mumbles next to me as he looks around just as much as I do. "I come here almost every day, and I still can't get over how beautiful this place is."

 

I nod and do another sweep of the intricately decorated room. "It's a shame that only a few people here can really enjoy this place..." I mumble. Out of all of the people I have met here so far, I can only peg about one person besides EJ as the type to spend time here. I make note to come here when I get some time. I never really had time to go somewhere like a library back when I was younger (still young enough to say out loud that I enjoyed reading at school, anyway), just because I was busy with school and work.

 

I shake my head to break my trance, then step forward, simultaneously breaking EJ's trance. I let him go ahead of me and lead me to the back corner of the study, watching as he takes out a book, and half expecting the shelf to somehow turn sideways and let us through just like in movies.

 

The bookshelf doesn't move, and EJ drops the book down to his side then faces away from the shelf, pushing a rolling ladder to the side a little bit and crouching to the floor. He takes off his glove and traces a sharp, black colored fingernail along the wood patterned linoleum for a few seconds before pressing his nail into a tiny groove no bigger than the edge of a dime. A large, square shaped part of the floor pushes up from the rest of the linoleum a little bit before sliding back on little axles and revealing a flight of concrete stairs.

 

"Didn't expect that, now did you?" He turns around with a smirk that peeks out from the edge of his mask.

 

I just keep staring curiously at the little opening in the floor for a few seconds before looking at EJ with a neutral expression. "What do you think?"

 

He shakes his head with a laugh and starts descending down the stairs. I follow right behind him, and watch the little secret hatch close back in place when I get about halfway down the stairs.

 

The stairs end in a large, concrete floored room with a couple of large storage cases in front of us. I quirk my brow at EJ as I notice that one of the cases is filled with aged wine bottles, and the other is packed with large jars full of specific organs- each shelf labeled with race, age, organ type, and date collected.

 

"I'm guessing that someone bought you a label maker for Christmas?"

 

He grins and nods before walking between the large cases and stopping to grab a bottle of red wine. He turns it over in his hands a couple of times, admiring its contents before looking up at me and waving a hand along the shelf full of organs.

 

"Bon-appetit."

 

"You've got to be kidding me..." I mumble skeptically, just loud enough for him to hear.

 

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" He turns to face me fully with one hand holding his book on his hip, and one holding the bottle haphazardly.

 

"I really can't tell." I shrug my shoulders and start walking towards him, noticing the dates on the organs getting closer to the current date. "So, if you are actually serious and not bullshitting me, would you kindly point me in the direction of the best thing to eat here?"

 

He snickers and holds his arms out, gesturing to himself.

 

"Uh huh, you wish."

 

"Haha, fine." He walks up next to me and points up at the top shelf. "These are the best to eat around this time, and usually the best tasting ones used to belong to Caucasians, but sometimes the ones that belonged to African Americans have a more subtle sweet taste that is just... mmm okay that one's mine, never mind."

 

"You do realize you are talking about human kidneys, right?"

 

"No, I'm sorry I thought I was talking about broccoli."

 

"Shut up smart ass."

 

"Shut up dumbass."

 

"I will kill you."

 

"Not if I kill you first."

 

The both of us stare at each other for a second before bursting into giggles. Once we calm down, he stands up on his toes and grabs one of the jars off of the top shelf. I make a face as I watch the kidneys swish around in the preserving liquid, causing EJ to swish around the jar some more just to gross me out.

 

"Quit it, that's disgusting."

 

"You're such a baby."

 

"You're such a weirdo."

 

We walk past the shelves and I automatically notice the large curtain separating one half of the room into an operating table and what looks like a regular kitchen counter lined with overhead cabinets. On the other side is a black, king sized bed and a couple of bookshelves that look like they are about to collapse because they are filled with so many medical books. Other than the bookshelves and the bed, there is a large, royal blue rug under the bed stretching outwards about five feet from the bedside, just reaching the bookshelves. There is also a midnight black, wooden nightstand next to the bed with drawers that have been left open. I grin as I notice that one of them is EJ's underwear drawer, and mark it down in my memory for later use for pranking.

 

"I was really just kidding, you don't have to eat kidneys. I have some random cereal bars up in one of these cabinets for when Toby gets sent down here to get patched up. I believe... they're in that far one on the right." I look to where EJ says and open the door, taking out a wrapped up, chocolate dipped cereal bar as he sets his jar on the counter along with the bottle of wine in the crook of his arm.

 

"This looks healthy."

 

"It's dark chocolate, so yeah. But you can't really taste the bitterness because of the honey coating." He leafs through the pages of the book he picked up before opening it to a page and setting it down on the counter

 

"Uh, huh." I turn it over in my hand, looking it over before shrugging, opening the package, and putting it into my mouth. It tastes pretty good, and EJ turns and sticks his thumb up then turns it so its facing down, asking me if I like it.

 

I hold up my thumb in approval, and he nods before turning around and taking a kidney out of his jar with the tips of his ungloved fingers.

 

“You know... you really don’t have to wear that mask around me. I don’t care what you look like.”

 

“Well... “ he sighs and turns to face me, then opens his mouth to answer me, “I don’t think you would. Nobody really does. But besides, I don’t think you would want to be around me much if you knew what I really looked like.”

 

"Are you... sure that's the reason? Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that I would push you away just because of the way you look?" I worriedly frown at him. He stares at the floor for a full minute before turning back around to face the wall, staring down at the kidney and hiding his face.

 

"You're right. I can't. I... I just don't want it to happen again."

 

I open my mouth to ask what happened, but close it again for fear of prying too much. It obviously upsets him from the way his shoulders stiffen and he can't look at me. If he wants to explain, I'll let him- but I don't want to force a confession out of the poor guy.

 

"I... lost someone very... close to me once." He places the kidney back in its jar and turns around to face me again, keeping his eyes trained on the floor. "I let her in... and she ended up betraying me- leaving me in the dust."

 

"Was she...?" I unconsciously touch my forearm as a spark of remembrance causes it to tingle from the sting of an old, now unidentifiable wound.

 

"Yes... Sage Veretta."

 

My eyes widen, and he looks up to my eyes in a glance that seems pained, even though I can't clearly see it in his eyes. "I think... it hurts me more than I tell myself." He looks away again and places his hand on the side of his head embarrassedly. "S-sorry. I didn't mean to make it so depressing. It's just... you look and act so much like her- how she used to be, anyway." He laughs nervously then frowns through his mask.

 

I move forward before I can think and wrap my arms around him. My body freezes for a second in panic as my brain catches up to me.

 

'What am I doing? I'm probably hurting him- hugging him while I look like the one he lost.' I stiffen up and start to back away.

 

My eyes widen as EJ catches me in his arms, wrapping them around me as I lean back, then pulling me back to him so he is holding tightly onto me.

 

"You're right. I... I can't push you away from being friends with me just because you look like someone who hurt me. You're different than Sage, and I should treat you as such." EJ pulls away from my shoulder and looks me in the eyes through his mask. My eyes stare into the darkness behind the mesh, looking for some hint of an expression. "Do you really want to see it?"

 

 

"Only if you're comfortable with me seeing it."

 

He smiles at me from behind the mask and steps back a little before grabbing the bottom edge of his mask. He hesitates for a second, then slowly pulls it up. I gasp a little as I see his dark grey skin, but as he pulls the rest of the mask off, I cock my head at the thick, ink-like substance that flows out from under his closed eyelids. He shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair to fix it before opening them.

 

My mouth drops open a little in surprise. "O-oh, well, I guess I always did wonder what that first E stood for... Well- now I remember you saying that you didn’t have… eyes, I just never took it to heart I guess..." He grins and laughs through his nose, then places his hand against his head again and lets it slide down the side of his face.

 

"I am so done with you..." He jokingly says through a semi-grin.

 

"I'm... glad you showed me, though." I shrug my shoulders and reassuringly grin at him.

 

He matches my grin and then turns back to his kidneys and lets it fade a little into a frown. "Suddenly I don't feel too hungry anymore..." He picks up the lid of the jar and screws it back on, then takes it back over and puts it up on the shelf. When he gets back, he dusts off his pants and then stops in front of the operating table, pushing himself up and sitting on it. "But, beyond that, I did want to talk about something more serious."

 

"Beyond the fact that you can somehow see me without any eyes and have teeth as sharp as needles in your mouth?"

 

"Way more serious." He shakes his head in bemusement again, then pats a spot next to him on the operating table. "You managed to cut Slenderman."

 

"And why is that important?" I hop up on the operating table next to him and brush my hair back with deft fingers as I turn to meet his eyeless gaze.

 

"Every single being in this house and a mile radius away from it is controlled in some way by Slender. It is a defense mechanism that he can't particularly help doing, but it isn't harmful to any one of us, just slightly invasive. The way he controls us is like this: if any one of us tries to attack him, the attack is stopped/deflected without ever hitting him, or the thought to attack him is simply blocked and forgotten if we try to plan an attack on him beforehand."

"But I managed to block the mind control, plan to attack him, and inflict damage upon him."

"Precisely, and we are worried about the reasons why. We don't know what's going on, and the attack on Slender has the ones who know about his mind control a little more than scared. The good thing about it though, is that this is only a partial interference. However, have you noticed that after Slender uses his telepathic way of speaking, that he just disappears and goes off to be alone?"

"Now that I think about it... yeah."

"That is because most of us have lost our enhancing abilities, but some of us can still use them, however it takes huge amounts of energy and effort, causing the user to be sluggish and in need of rest."

"That... can be a big problem." I realize I didn't even know that the whole house was having problems with it- I just remember Masky and Hoodie having something to do with it.

"No kidding. He's almost defenseless at seeing who could be plotting against him right now, and if Slender gets killed, the house disappears, the cloaking disappears, there won't be a headquarters anymore, and no communication between safe houses across the world anymore." He pushes himself off of the table and stands in front of me. "But, now that we've got all of that out of the way, let me take care of that awful bruise. Oh, I'm sorry I forgot. You must be freezing, seeing as your clothes are still wet." I make a suspicious look at him, but still pretend not to notice his sudden change of subject.

 

"I'm actually pretty hot, although my clothes are a bit... uncomfortable." I pinch the fabric of my sleeve between my fingers and pull it up only to drop it and hear it fall back to my arm with a muffled, squishing noise. Even after all of that running and climbing, it is still sopping wet.

 

"I have a hoodie and a couple of... towels I think- but they're under my sink. I can go check, but in the meantime can you at least take off your pants?"

 

EJ nervously grins at me before turning around and searching under the sink. I shrug my shoulders to myself and unbutton the jeans. I cringe as I try to pull them down because they feel so clammy and hot; sticking to my legs so much that I practically have to peel them off.

 

I only just barely catch the towel EJ throws at me before he gets up and pulls the curtain back against the wall, then walks over to the "home-ier" side of the room and opens one of the drawers in his bedside table. I grab the ends of my sweatshirt before fighting to get it over my head and dropping it in a pile on the floor. I hold the towel against my bare chest and dry myself off a little through it, all the while staring disapprovingly down at the soggy boxer shorts I'm still wearing.

"You don't happen to have any women's underwear lying around do you? Oh wait, that was a redundant question." I turn towards him and meet his eye sockets, giggling when he gives me a playful, warning glare.

"Actually, I probably do. You're not the first practically naked girl that's come here either, smart ass."

"What did you do? Go on a panty raid or something?"

"No, I'm just prepared, unlike you."

"Oh really, in what way?"

"In the way your face won't be prepared for when my fist hits it in a few seconds." He reaches back into one of the drawers and pulls out a pair of regular black, women's underwear.

"Oh, sorry. How rude of me. You're too good of a guy to go around stealing women's underwear and just keeping it for a trophy- you probably got those to use for yourself."

"Oh, fuck you." He rushes forward so fast, that I barely have to blink before he's in front of me again. I bite my lip in amusement as I see the half angry, half playful look on his face. He holds himself back from whatever he was going to do, which I feel a little thankful for.

"I'd rather keep our relationship platonic, but thanks for the offer."

"I swear I would tackle you if you weren't almost naked."

"Then gimme the clothes and bring it on, Jack~." I put emphasis on his name to push him even farther. He shoves the clothes into my chest with a force that knocks a little bit of air out of my lungs, but I laugh at him anyway.

Pulling the black sweatshirt over my head, I notice that it's a bit softer fabric than a regular hoodie. I silently thank him for it, my chest was starting to get a bit irritated from the slight roughness of the other fabric rubbing against me all the time.

EJ turns away from me and picks up all of the wet clothes as soon as I take off the boxers before throwing them into a hamper at the end of the counter. He stays there for a second and listens for me to say the word that I'm done changing.

"Okay, you're good."

He turns around and turns the corner of his lips up in a slight smile. "Before anything else, I still need to check that wound on your neck. You said that your sister did that in your dream?"

"Yeah..." I look away from him and absentmindedly wisp my fingertips across the skin of my neck.

EJ walks up to me and takes a light hold of my hand, pulling it away from the slightly stinging bruise. He looks down at it for a while, then lets go of my hand and prods around it, monitoring my expressions as he presses on certain places.

"Well, this type of contusion couldn't have been dealt by hands any bigger than maybe a ten year old's, so Masky and Hoodie couldn't have done this to you and you vividly dreamed about it. Your sister is alive, dangerous, and she can most likely travel through your dreams."

"No, I saw my sister. She was definitely dead. There is no way she can be alive- she said that she is a spirit."

"Spirits... don't have the power to hurt people like this. A scratch or a stinging hand print is one thing, but this- this is simply not the work of a spirit. Your sister is mistaken. Maybe she thinks she is one, but she most definitely is not."

"So, she is alive?"

"Yes. Either that, or undead like some of us here- which is still a lifestyle."

"But... how?"

"I..." He lowers his hand from my neck and looks away from me, down at the floor, "don't know..." He walks around the operating table and sits up next to me, facing the other way. "I've never heard of something like this before. I'm... I'm sorry I can't give you the answer.”

I turn my eyes to him in a sidelong glance, smiling thoughtfully at his worried and apologetic expression as he stares at his folded hands in his lap. I sigh and hold my arm out, then hook it across his other shoulder- pulling him into a side-hug. I hold my cheek against his for a second, then pull away.

"You don't have to have all of the answers, Jack. I understand. I'll figure it out somehow, so don't worry about it." I raise my hand off of his shoulder and mess up his hair with another playful grin. "So now, enough of this depressing shit and figure out what's wrong with me."

EJ pushes my hand away from his hair with a toothy grin and lightly shoves my shoulder. "There are a lot of things wrong with you." I return his shove with what I think is an equally forceful shove, but accidentally push him off of the operating table. He stumbles to the floor on his feet, catching himself, then looking back at me with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"Fine. Let's see how well that healing factor works, shall we?" He half growls.

I meet his look with an equally challenging and lethal glare. "That is, if you can even land a hit on me!"


	13. In Our Defense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y/N: Yay! Finally I'm back with some new material. I have two other chapters that I'm going to put up.
> 
> UPDATE SCHEDULE is set to be on Mondays and Fridays now. HOPEFULLY I can kick my ass enough to learn to stick to it, but I have a lot of things planned out already, so I should be good this time. I really hope you enjoy the continuation of this story!
> 
> ALL CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN REVISED TO PREVIOUS READERS AS OF 6/15/17, so I would strongly recommend you go read them because I have more very important information that has been added. THANKS AND HOPE YOU LIKE IT! :)

“Stop! Stop, I forfeit!” I whimper, finally tapping out.

 

“There’s no forfeiting in a fight like this!” EJ holds my arm back between my shoulder blades and pushes up a little more, causing me to jump up from my knees and stand up on my feet so it doesn’t hurt my shoulder so much. “You really need to be put on a training regimen.” He offhandedly comments.

 

“Okay, okay, I got it- now quit!”

 

He sighs and lets go of my arm. I automatically jerk forward and stumble away from him so he can’t do it again, or get any other ideas. I glare at him, the glare shifting to an even darker look as he matches it with a shit-eating grin.

 

“I’m just saying, I don’t want you to get hurt out there when you decide to get revenge. You can’t just rely on your accelerated speed, hearing, sight, and strength, you need to be taught how to channel it so you can use it in a fight. I don’t have much of my speed left, but I still caught your arm.”

 

“Fine, if you’re such a whiz at fighting, why don’t you just teach me?” I sarcastically spit. I can feel a little bit of blood in my mouth from a punch I couldn’t dodge earlier, the rich tang of copper settling into my tongue.

 

His eyes sockets widen, and then he thoughtfully holds a hand to his chin. “I could arrange that.”

 

“I was kidding.”

 

“But I wasn’t. I’m serious about you not getting hurt out there.” He relaxes his stance and pops his hip out, waving his hand in the air towards me to emphasize his words.

 

“Yeah, because you don’t want to have to patch me up.” I grumble wiping a little blood away from my lip.

 

“No, it’s because I don’t want to see my friend getting hurt. And I’m not saying that you’re totally defenseless or unprepared- I mean, you did land a pretty painful uppercut on me, and a few good shots to the groin- which reminds me… I... need to lay down.” EJ slowly crumples to the floor with his hands over his crotch, the feeling catching up to him as his adrenaline fades.

 

I sit back down on the floor next to him with a slight pout, but put a hand on his shoulder as he grits his teeth through his pain, which makes me feel pretty bad. “...I guess I can see where you’re coming from.” He gives me a tight-lipped smile through half scrunched eyes as I sheepishly shrug my shoulders, feeling even worse for hitting him so hard and getting angry at him. I did ask for a fight, and a fight I got.  His unshakable calmness keeps on pulling me back down to earth, I guess.

 

“If you’re up for it, we can train after everyone has gone to bed or left to finish up the hunt.” He lets out a hard sigh as the harsh edge of the pain fades away some. “The training room is right across the hallway from the study. I can teach you some basic self defense, and if you want, we can head over to the study and read a book or something after. Sometimes I fall asleep in there- you might want to stay in there for tonight, anyway.”

 

“That actually sounds kind of fun and nice, compared to the awkwardness of going back to Masky and Hoodie’s room. I... don’t think I’m ready to see them yet.” I worry my lip between my teeth. I know that I can't put off my memories with fooling around anymore, and I feel horrible for leading them into it anyway. It's undeniable that I do like them, but I need to focus on my revenge right now, not dumb, teenager-ish crushes.

 

EJ nods with understanding in his eyes, then pulls his phone out of his back pocket and swipes it open. “It’s around 10 right now, and everyone usually starts winding down and heading out around 11:30. What do you want to do until then?”

 

“Are people still in the kitchen?”

 

“No, there shouldn’t be anybody.”

 

“Do you think we could sneak in and get something? I’m still hungry and the thought of another cereal bar makes my stomach churn.”

 

“Well, let me think.” He pushes himself up off of the floor and falls back on his bed, folding his arms back above his head to cover his eyes. I shuffle so that I’m next to him on the floor, then prop my elbows up on the bedspread by his leg, sitting up on my knees and holding my head in my left hand. He lifts his head a little to meet my gaze, then shuts his eyelids with a smile and lays his head back down. “The only person that would come into the kitchen at this hour of the night is Smile, and he obviously won’t be able to tell on us, so yeah we can go.”

 

“Awesome!”

 

“You’re so easily excited.”

 

“I’m just hungry.” I pout at him. He lifts himself back up into a sitting position, so I sit back on my butt to allow him to get up. He stays sitting, but places his hands next to his thighs, preparing to push himself back onto his feet.

 

“If we go back up the secret route and through the training room, there’s another hallway we can take to get to the kitchen.” He holds on hand out to me, which I take before he stands up and pulls me along with him. “Come on, we can make good time and avoid getting noticed if we go right away.” He lets my hand drop to my side before walking back to the row of shelves. My eyes follow him, but I don't move. Some thought that I can't quite hear makes me stop and try to grasp onto it.

 

I jump a little as I come out of my trance, rolling my eyes at myself and face palming when I realize what it is. I stumble over my feet as I try to catch up to him a little and get his attention.

 

“W-wait!”

 

He stops just as he is about to go out of sight behind the wooden cases, I notice that he took a second to grab his mask and has put it back on. “What?”

 

“I think I need some jeans or something to go walking around the house, don’cha think?”

 

He freezes for a second, then face palms at himself. “Right. I forgot about that.” He laughs.

 

“I feel thoroughly offended. How could you forget a half naked girl in your room?” I pop my hip out and put my hands on them, giving him an accusative grin.

 

“If that half naked girl happens to be you.” He walks back up beside me and shoves my shoulder a little then goes past me and rummages through his bedside table.

 

“Oh fuck you.”

 

“I’d rather keep our relationship platonic, but thanks for the offer.” He mocks me as he pulls a pair of black jeans from the very back of his drawer.

 

“You’re such a dick!”

 

“Uh-huh, now put these on.” He shoves them into my chest, causing me to back up a couple of steps, then starts walking to the shelves again. I hurriedly pull them up my legs and fasten them, then run after him- silently thanking him for picking out a pair that I can move around in a little more. I think I caught a glimpse of the tag, and he actually picked out a pair of women's jeans for me, so I feel grateful towards him as I trot behind him.

 

We head back up the stairs and EJ pushes a button in the wall as we reach the top. The door quickly rises to get out of our way, then automatically shuts behind us when we get about halfway to the door of the study. A single lamp on the desk in front of the bay window is the only source of light that brightens up the room against the pitch black void from outside of the window. I swear I can see the vines covering the outside edge of the window curl up and wave at me, but blame it on lack of sleep and the lurking presence of insanity in my mind.

 

EJ opens the door slowly, quieting the creakiness of the door. He peeks his head out to take a look, then slides through the door and motions for me to follow him. He opens a door on the opposite wall a few paces down the corridor, checks inside again, and motions for me to follow him again.

 

I rush through, then turn, pushing the door shut behind me. I turn back around and let my eyes widen in awe again. This room is a whole lot bigger than the study, and I can't help but stare at the varying workout equipment and weapons lining the walls like a dangerous wallpaper. They even have vending machines on the far wall.

 

"How the in the ever loving fuck do people not notice this huge ass house just randomly placed in the middle of a forest that is only about a mile and a half away from civilization?!"

 

"Cloaking effect. Duh."

 

"Fucking- this is way too much to take in. How can I go from a simple life, to fucking magic, and murder, and superpowers and shit?!"

 

"Tell me about it." He murmurs.

 

He walks forward and follows a set path through the machines that leads to the door on the other side of the room.

 

"I think this place would put Planet Fitness to shame..."

 

He laughs slightly, but continues walking. "We'll be practicing over there. You can find a weapon that you like after I teach you that self defense, but I don't think you will have any problems with that."

 

I take a second to look at all of the different types of weapons, from simple melee weapons to some high range mini-missile-launchers. I shake my head in disbelief before sprinting after him as he reaches the other door and walks through without looking back at me. I shut that door behind me and lean my back against it dumbfoundedly for a second, then follow him through a few more hallways lined with doors until we come to a door at the very end of one of them.

 

He opens it halfway, then shoves it the rest of the way open when he sees that nobody is in there. I have to give him credit- he knows how I would feel being asked so many questions if I were to run into anybody, and goes through all of the trouble of helping me. I feel my stomach growl in relief as he moves out of the way to reveal the kitchen. It looks somewhat normal, with two huge refrigerators against the left wall being the only thing out of the ordinary. A circular table sits in the far left corner of the room with a polished wooden tabletop and chairs lining it all the way around. I didn’t really look around the kitchen much this morening, but it seems homey and nice.

 

I walk over to one of the refrigerators and smile as I see a few leftover pieces of pizza on a plate towards the front. I take out the plate and sniff at it a little to date check, then shrug when I don't smell anything odd or moldy. I shut the refrigerator and put it in the microwave on the counter, then take it out after the microwave beeps at me.

 

"Only fine dining in this house." EJ crosses his arms and leans his head towards me jokingly.

 

I take a bite of the pizza and moan lightly at the taste. "Mmh, I agree. A meal fit for kings."

 

"Then I should have some."

 

"Fuck off. My pizza. You have your fine assortment of disgusting meals downstairs to pick from anyway- and can you even eat pizza?" I look at him a bit skeptically, holding my plate away from him a bit.

 

"A change in taste is good every once in awhile. Carnivores don't eat only meat all the time, you know. Haven't you ever given a pet some human food before either?"

 

"Well, then find something else. This pizza's mine."

 

EJ tries to take my plate from my hands, but I hold onto it with a firm grip. He then uses that as a distraction to take the piece I've been holding in my mouth and backpedaling. I yelp a little and growl at him as he lifts up the bottom of his mask to reveal a smirk before putting the half eaten piece of pizza in his mouth.

 

"That's really fucking rude, not to mention unsanitary." I pout at him.

 

"Oh please, I eat literal organs and have the strongest immune system you've ever seen."

 

"I hope you choke on that piece of pizza."

 

"Wow, what a hypocrite. Didn't you just call me rude?"

 

I roll my eyes at him and finish up my other pieces of pizza, then place the plate in the sink, lightly cringing as I see so many tiny little shards of broken glass. "You weren't kidding when you said I broke those plates...."

 

"Yeah, we're all just lucky you didn't break our eardrums either."

 

I turn with a grin and expect him to look at me with a smirk, but I'm surprised to see that he actually looks serious- well, as serious as you can get with a piece of pizza crust sticking out of your mouth.

 

"I could actually have done that?" I look at him incredulously.

 

"If the joules were high enough to break glass, they were close to vibrating our ear drums so violently, that they quite possibly could have torn."

 

"Wow.... no shit." I blink a couple of times, severely surprised that I actually had that much power inside of me. I raise a hand to my throat again and cringe a little as I brush against the bruise my little sister made.

 

I see EJ raise his eyebrows behind the mask in response, then eat the last bite of the pizza. He opens one of the bottom cabinets and pulls out a plastic water bottle, then fills it up in the sink under the faucet labeled "purified" with a label maker, which I know is his handiwork.

 

"What are you doing?"

 

"You might get dehydrated, so I'm getting you some water to take with you."

 

I nod, then eye the door I came through earlier this morning when we had breakfast. It is incredibly hard to believe that so much has only happened in one day- scratch that- the past few days. I bite my lip and let a worried frown work its way onto my face.

 

"It... it gets better. Easier to handle." I turn and watch EJ curiously as he gives me the water bottle. He keeps his eyes trained on his hands, looking away from my gaze. "I was a normal medical student in college just a few years ago, though it's hard to believe. I know how it feels to have your life ripped away from you, then get thrown headfirst into another... All I'm saying is..." he meets my gaze as I place my hand halfway over his as I take the water bottle, "we're here the help catch you. Masky, Hoodie, me... we know what it was like. If you need anything, we're all here."

 

"Thanks." I cast my eyes towards the floor. He catches on that I don't really want it to be brought up again- but appreciate the talk- and drops the subject with a reassuring hand on my shoulder. He then lets it softly fall, leaving a slightly reassuring coolness behind from where he had it. The corner of my lip turns up a smidgen in a halfhearted grin, but easily falls. I would love to go back to the days when my family and I loved and supported each other, but those feelings of security and love seem to be so far out of reach now that I feel like giving it all up. But I know I can't. I have things I need to do first, and I'm stronger than that- even though it is hard. I clench my fist with resolve and move my feet from their rooted place on the ground.

 

I silently follow after EJ, back down the hallways and to the training room. He stops in front of the door and peeks inside- seeing that nobody is there first- then gently pushes it open. He lets out a comfortable sigh once he moves in and travels forward a little, placing the perspiring water bottle on the hard floor next to a stack of large training mats. I silently close the door behind me and lean against it, taking a breath.

"Go ahead and look around a little while I prepare, and then I'll teach you shields." He throws over his shoulder. I nod even though he can't see it, and move around the walls, looking at the weapons. Nothing really sticks out to me, but as I make my way to one of the corners, I spot a switchblade laying on the floor, hidden behind what looks to be a tricked out machine gun.

I bend down and lightly hold it between my fingers, running my hand over the smooth rubber handle that it folds back down into. There are some intricate designs carved into it that feel nice against my fingertips as I move my finger over them, my muscles remembering the feeling of the rubber handle of the knife I first stabbed one of my family's attackers with. I feel a slight surge of built up energy in my hand at the feeling and grip the handle a little tighter as I flip out the blade.

The blade looks slightly like one of those Japanese samurai swords, with the slightly jagged edge showing where it was treated with fired clay and then resharpened. I search around the room for a second and spy what looks like a hacked up training dummy put into a far corner, then move up to it.

I just barely put the blade against it and feel it slice through just as easily as a hot knife would go through butter. The lethal feeling the small object holds instantly makes me realize that I have found the perfect weapon for me.

"Done?"

I almost jump out of my skin as EJ suddenly appears behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder. He backs up a little when I whip around, sensing the memory of murderous intent in my eyes as I peer up at him. I blink my eyes and sheepishly grin. I didn't mean to scare him.

"I take it you found something." He nervously states with light joking intent. I nod at him, which he returns, then turns around and motions for me to follow. We walk up to the mat, and I watch him as he takes the blade from my hand and flips it back in, putting it on the floor beside the water bottle. He then picks up a pair of black, worn-in boxing gloves and slips them on. He then moves on the mat and motions for me to follow him.

"I'm going to have you warm up with shields first, so go ahead and put your non dominant hand up." I comply with him and hold my fist in the air in front of me. "Now raise your dominant hand up and hold it slightly behind that one in a fist. Just like how you see boxers do." I follow his words again, then watch as he raises his own hands up in the same position. "When you throw a punch, you always step with your opposite leg first, then follow through. This way it packs more of a punch." He demonstrates for me, then goes back into position.

"When someone goes to punch you- like this," he slowly moves his fist over to my right cheek, "you bring your arm up to block it like this." He then moves my arm up to where my hand wraps behind my head, and my forearm catches the blow. "This way you can protect your temple and right behind your ear. If they hit you hard enough there, they can knock you out. This defense goes for either side, so we'll practice that first."

We go through a few of those, starting slow with him hitting his gloves together between each punch and alternating. I then work it up to where he is using his faster speed and a little more force to hit me, sometimes hitting three times with the same fist to make sure I'm paying attention. Once I get there, he stops again and teaches me another defense for and upper cut, then a body shot after practicing that. After I get good at all of them, he alternates between them with the hitting of the gloves between each punch again, and working me up to where I don't miss any, even with his added inhuman speed.

"Okay... phew, okay. We can take a break." He rasps after about thirty minutes. I nod and watch as he slumps to the floor and pulls his right glove off, then grabs the face of his mask and pulls it up away from his head, letting the elastic snap up and thwack against the inside of the mask. He gently sets it down beside him with closed eyelids, then turns his head up and opens his eyes to me giving me an exasperated grin which I return.

He sits up and grips the waistband of his hoodie after a few seconds, and pulls it up towards his head, then pulls it all the way off, throwing it on the floor beside him. I can see his skin glistening with sweat and laugh a little as he falls flat on his back.

"I think... that's enough training for today." He wheezes out as he puts a finger up in the air to emphasize his point. He then lets his arm bend and fall onto his chest.

"You're that tired?" I murmur, bending down to pull his other boxing glove off of his hand. He flexes his fingers, then puts his hands down next to him and pushes himself up again.

"You're pretty boring- that's all." He smirks and wipes some sweat away from his eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie. I roll my eyes at him and move to the edge of the mat, picking up the water bottle. I twist off the top and take a few drinks, then move back over to him and hand him the bottle. He nods in thanks and tips it back, not caring that some of it dribbles down his cheeks and neck.

"Drink much?" I sarcastically quip, which causes him to cough a little as he laughs and sighs at the same time.

"Oh shut up." He pushes himself up and takes the gloves away from me, turning to put them away.

"If you were anyone else I might have thought that was hot. But with you it looks like you're a fish stuck up on dry land. Not very attractive." I giggle as I move back a few steps with a wry grin and my hands put up into the defensive position he taught me. He glares out of the corner of his eye at me, then slips his glove over his right hand and drops the other back on the mat. I feel my heel slip off of the mat, and hear my heart skip a beat as I feel like I'm falling. He tries to use this as an advantage, but I duck and twist away from him, regaining my balance. As he goes to hit me in the gut, I block and duck again, catching him in a headlock as I move around him, but I accidentally push too hard, making us both fall down. I keep him locked in and keep his feet from moving with my legs, then laugh as he finally growls at me, tapping out.

I let go with a grin and roll to my side, pushing myself up with my momentum. I stop and blink once, suddenly stopping my laughing as my grin slips off of my face. Masky is standing in the doorway, tightly gripping the knob. I can tell he is incredibly angry even though I can't see his face, and I open my mouth to explain to him, but he slams the door shut- cutting me off.

I blink a couple of times in shock, then look down at EJ. He has the same somewhat shocked look on his face as I do, which in some ways makes me feel better, and in some ways makes me feel worse. I grit my teeth, making a decision.

All of the sudden my bare feet are pounding on the wooden floor, and the door is slamming open in front of me. I turn into the hallway just to see him stomping out of the back door, slamming that door shut behind him too. I rush forward, my heart beating in my throat as a bit of dread constricts my breathing.

"Masky, please wait!" I exclaim as I throw open the door, hearing it slam against the outside paneling with a sickening crack. He stops his advance towards the forest and turns his head slightly towards me, but then shakes his head and keeps moving. I grit my teeth and run after him again, grabbing his shoulder when I reach him.

I gasp as he jerks his shoulder away from me, glaring daggers at me through the mask. I stop and take a step back, my eyes widening.

"What are you doing to me?" He snarls, sounding like it is directed both at me and himself. I blink once and shake my head. He takes a single step and leans his upper body towards me. "I asked you a question."

"I d-don't know what...." I shake my head, holding my hands up in surrender.

"Fine. What was that?" He jabs his finger back towards the house.

"EJ was helping me train- I'm not very good at fighting a-a-and after everything that happened earlier-"

"I don't know what happened earlier-" He starts with venom injected into his tone. I grate my teeth together. I've had enough. He's not just going to yell at me like this.

I yank down the collar and jab my finger towards the skin of my collarbone, gritting my teeth when I accidentally hit it. "Do you see this?" I growl, not really letting him answer me before I keep going. "Last night. When you saw my family brutalized on that couch, you saw my little sister, right? Remember her face?"

"Yes, but-" he starts up again with a cold tone, but I cut him off by stepping forward into his face.

"We thought she was dead... but she isn't. She came back somehow." His mouth, half opened in a retort, goes slack, then shuts again. I hear him gulp as he looks down into my eyes from his mask. "She infiltrated my dreams earlier, and described every little detail of how she and my parents were murdered and defiled and why it was my fault they're dead, and she is livid. She said that she came back to get revenge because I didn't and then she proceeded to hold me up against a wall and- a-and..." I clench my eyelids together and fist the fabric of my sweatshirt and move on. "I almost died, and I couldn't even fight back. EJ was showing me how to protect myself-"

"In that position?!" He yells into my face, looking like he is just trying to find something to argue about now- desperately grasping at straws.

"I WAS PLAYING AROUND! Something to take my mind off of seeing my little sister fucking rot before my eyes and try to choke me to death with the festering skin of her tiny little eleven year old hands." I move even closer, my eyes full of a raging fire.

"Take your mind off-"

"YES, GODDAMMIT! Isn't that what I've been doing this whole day with you two?! Just fucking around with you? No wonder I can't get revenge for my slaughtered family when I go as low as to play around with whatever feelings you two have just to take away a little pain- what a fucking coward I am. Using the people I like as a distraction from my problems." I spit the words out of my mouth. I feel the tears flow out of my eyes before I can even bother to stop them, and when I see the pity in his expression, I back up a couple of steps, the same rage in my eyes as before, but this time directed at both myself and him. I whip around to turn my back to him then stop, trying to figure out if I should apologize- stay and calm down- figure it out without yelling- but I don't want to hear the rational part of me.

My feet are carrying me away before I can make a conscious decision, and I feel myself running off into the forest for the second time today... just as I hear a grandfather clock somewhere in the house let out three chimes- signalling it to be midnight.


	14. Friends and Enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Told ya I'd update Monday. I literally just woke up but it's 10:46 AM EST so sorry early risers and PST's haha. I am really excited about this, and I'm adding A LOT of new info, but please do not worry because I will reiterate as much as I can so you don't have to keep like a notebook of it or anything. I really hope you enjoy some new plot, and please comment what you think about it. I want to know what you guys are thinking so I can improve! 
> 
> \- morgancatlovey :)

I feel my labored breath racking through my body with every step I take, but I can't stop. I won't stop. I just need to go see it again and figure stuff out before I come back. I know it's incredibly stupid, but with my heightened abilities I should be fine.

I misstep from wiping my eyes and feel myself falling before I can stop myself. I tumble on my side down a small, leaf filled ravine in the woods and don't stop until I can feel the tiny trickling stream at the bottom flowing over my bare, dirt and blood crusted toes. Hissing, I shove myself up onto my feet again with a hard breath, limping for a second as I feel the place where the tree root snagged my foot. I glare up at the top of the ravine for a second, then huff and take off again.

I start pumping my arms, and in no time I'm back to my break-neck speed again. The trees barely look like more than splotches of brown, but I can tell in seconds that I'm nearing the place I called home only a couple of days ago. I can only slightly feel the little twigs on the forest floor scraping the bottom of my feet and the branches of the trees snagging at my clothes- all I know is that I need to get to my house.

The sudden blinding light of a streetlamp hits my eyes, and I blink my bleary eyes shut, covering them with my arm as I notice the soft grass beneath my feet. Something lightly flutters over the skin of my right leg, causing me to look down. Ripped crime scene tape blows in the wind and smacks at me to let it go. I lift up my heel and watch as it shoots off into the darkness before I slowly turn my eyes back ahead of me.

I focus my hearing and realize that I hear some people moving around in the neighborhood, but they seem to be further down the block, and moving something heavy into a van. I shake the sounds away, take a cautious step forward, then make myself take another. There is something in me that needs to see it.

I avoid the sensor, barely registering anything else around me as I step up onto my concrete back porch and leave bloody footprints- the sliding door still open the way I left it the night before. I lightly pad into my kitchen, seeing the large dish of food my mother had apparently made for me, untouched and stinking from being in the slight heat of the outdoors for too long. My emotions are stagnant as I look at the lower cabinets Masky and I hid in, now splintered and lying pitifully on the floor, broken from the abuse I inflicted upon them.

I move towards my laundry room, half expecting the guy I stabbed to still be there, but all I see is a reddish-brown color covering the wall and sinking down to mingle with boards of the floor- the day old blood completely dry now. I move past it and into the living room, the stench of death hitting me again in a suffocating wave. My head slowly turns toward the couch, and for a second I think I see my parents on the couch where I left them, but they are gone. In their place are three little M shapes- void of the red discoloration on the couch and reaching up onto the wall as well as dripping onto the floor in a now still pool of dried blood. The stamps from the three bodies that had been slumped there. Three.

I snap my head down to look at the floor again and let out a disappointed breath when I see the small, splattery footprints of a little girl walking away from the scene. For some reason, the last, hidden away part of me wanted to see it. I realized in my fight with Masky that I didn't want to believe that my sweet little sister had turned into such a monster and actually tried to kill me- despite all of the evidence. But now there is no denying it, and I don’t want to lie to myself anymore- no matter how much it hurts.

I suddenly notice the little cards placed around the room along with sticky notes marking the evidence numbers. On the slightly open front door is a paper with my local police force's symbol in the upper left corner.

I turn and read it, trying to see if it actually is what I think it is.

"Three bodies. Wife and mother, father and husband, female neighbor that was seemingly unaffiliated with the other two murders. Clear evidence of foul play. Message on wall reading.... "

I skip further down.

"One child, one adult missing from block. Motive unclear for elder daughter of couple, however is still a main suspect. Younger daughter proved not to be a match to strangulation marks on other bodies. Possibility of male suspect(s), although none have been identified as of yet. No other leads clear until DNA analysis has been completed."

I sigh and lean forward, resting my forehead against the smooth wood of the door as I finally get to say a few last words in my mind to the family and the home I lost. I stay like this for almost five minutes before sighing, then turning back and going back down the laundry room hallway. I move past the stained wall and floor and turn, moving up the stairs to make it to my room. I continue silently padding down the hallway until I reach my door.

 

Just as I move to put my hand on the knob, the abused skin around my collarbones sears with a burning fire again. I grit my teeth, my throat instantly feeling horribly scratchy and dry as I try to swallow back the recognizable pain. The burning feeling constricts my throat then winds down my body and around every single tendon, then sends a jolt of electricity through me. I moan in pain, but the sensation feels a whole lot better than the first time it happened. After the numbing of electricity fades, I take a few, very deep breaths of the chilly air around me. I wipe a bit of sweat off of my forehead and along the top of the now unblighted skin of my chest, then make sure I am calm before I push open the door.

 

Everything seems eerily untouched. I look at the door, and in a sudden wave of terror I grab the handle and jerk, only feeling satisfied when the wood splinters then gives, and the door's hinges swing violently back and forth. There is no way I was going to be able to concentrate if I kept thinking there was a possibility of being strangled to death against this damned door again. I gently place it back down on the floor, then move into my room again. I desperately want to turn the light on, but I don't want to be noticed, so I simply move to my closet and pull it open.

 

I find an old gym bag that is covered in dust from lack of use and pull it out, beating off the grey particles. I then begin packing clothes and memorabilia away. Once finished, I hoist it up and put it on my back, walking back down and out of the back door again with one last goodbye.

 

As I get to the corner of the house, I look back to where I saw the men again. I stand there staring, the cold autumn wind taking my hair in its fingers and gently dragging it through the air behind me as I watch my memories play. I burn the memory of every one of their faces back into my mind, and with an emotionless expression and somber eyes, I head back.

 

Masky's POV

 

I take a slow breath. Then another. And I still can't figure out why the fuck I was so mad. Sure I was jealous at first and angry at EJ... but when I try to dig around and find out why I was still yelling even when the misunderstanding was cleared up, all I come up with is... fear. When I admit it to myself I want to yell, kick, and punch every fucking tree around me.

 

I take a few more steps forward, but angrily realize that I don't even know where she is going- and on top of that I'm not nearly as fast as her right now. For what fucking reason? Who knows. I want to go after her, but I just can't. The screw up of the century has finally made his biggest screw up yet, and he can't even do anything about it.

 

I huff out a sigh and throw my back against a tree, letting myself drag down it until I reach the damp, cold ground covered in shredded wet leaves. I throw my head into my bent knees and scrunch my eyes together as my thoughts come back around again to torment me.

 

The fear. I don't really know what from. I run through the possibilities because it's infuriating not knowing the reason why I screwed up so bad in the first place. I remember back to before she woke up. Hoodie and I were talking it over about what we wanted in any type of relationship with her.

 

Hoodie was saying that he liked her a lot, but after thinking it over, he thought that he might have jumped the gun. He was saying that in the confusion of it all, with the new girl coming in and being really nice, and not to mention incredibly powerful, it was hard not to feel anything for her. He had decided that unless she wanted us both, that he would back off. "If you really think about it, do you actually think that both us can end up with a girl like that?" I immediately recall what he said. I press my lips together and prop my head up on the bark of the tree, looking off into the forest. I honestly don't know. I didn't get to answer him. We were going to ask her about what she thought when she woke up and talk about it- get the problem solved like adults and not leave it hanging around until someone got hurt- but when she woke up like that, obviously other things became more important.

 

When she ran off, I immediately went to run after her, but Slender held me back. I tried my damnedest to run past him and find her, but he simply blocked me each time. And when he sent EJ after her, I was more than angry. I wanted to be the one for her to cry on- to confide in... I wanted to be the one always there for her- but now I realize that I could have actually hurt her a lot more than helped her. Sending someone unaffiliated with the horror that happened to her the night before was a good move, although I hate that I wasn't the one to calm her down. This leads me to realize that it’s probably a good thing that I am unable to run after her right now.

 

I laugh a little as I realize just how much she already has me wrapped around her fingers, even though I don't think she realizes it yet. While she was gone, my stomach was in knots. Anyone who tried to talk to me I would snap at, and I couldn't get a wink of sleep even when I was dead tired. That's why I went down to the training room- to try and blow off some stress and finally do something besides wait around for her to come back. When I saw her, I guess I just realized how much she had affected me, and how worried I was that she might be leaving me behind. It made me weak when she was gone, but I didn't find myself minding at all as long as I could be near her, which is what- I guess- frightened and angered me so much.

 

You can't be weak when your life revolves around killing to survive.

 

"Masky?"

 

I sluggishly turn my head to see Jack. He wrings his hands in front of him and seems to be worried about her too. I feel a pang of jealousy- but I know that I have to let other people worry about her whether I like it or not.

 

"What is it?" I defeatedly sigh. He lets his hands drop to put them in his hoodie pockets, then turns his head to the side a bit.

 

"I should have told you she was back." I find him looking at me again when I look up, so I turn away.

 

"It's fine. I'm just glad you brought her back safe."

 

He moves to the tree across from me and leans his back against it, crossing his arms in front of him and looking down at the ground between us.

 

"She just needs a break, that's all. She'll be back before we know it."

 

"I... I know." I sigh, pushing myself up from the ground.

 

I dust off my jeans and jerk a hand through my hair nervously. The knot in my stomach loosens up slightly as I look up at Jack. Even though he makes me a bit jealous, it is nice to have a buddy to share your problems with- in the case of both me and her.

 

"Ready?" He takes a step back towards the house and turns to look at me.

 

I take one last, long look into the dark forest, then turn back. "Yeah, I'm ready."

 

Your POV

 

I don't know if it's because I decided to walk back and I'm paying a bit more attention to my surroundings than I was before, or that I've gotten turned around, but it seems that I've been going down for a long time. It's been about twenty minutes, and I thought it would have leveled out by now, but I just keep going down.

 

Sucking in a sharp breath as I feel my foot slide a little bit on some wet leaves, I growl and secure my bag around my back before looking around for a climbable tree. I don't know why I didn't grab a freaking pair of comfortable shoes when I was back at the house, but I guess it's too late now. Finally spotting a tree with a low, thick branch jutting out from its side, I practically slide my way down the earth trying to reach it.

 

I don't have to climb for long to see that the hill seems to come to an end about fifteen meters further through the dense amount of trees, but I also notice that on the other hill across from me, there seems to be a cliff of sorts, but it is covered in a mass of vines and even thicker trees than the ones on my side. Curiosity floods through me as I remember that every time my sister and I saw a cliff on one of these hills, there would almost always be a waterfall nearby- and that's one big. ass. cliff.

 

I carefully climb down the rest of the way, thinking that I have plenty of time and nothing to worry about. After all, I know that the scariest thing out here is probably that ugly lookin', overgrown razor blade dude, and I could outrun him with two people in tow.

 

With the sounds of the wind whispering through the trees, the somber calls of the remaining mourning doves, and the slight crunching noises of my feet against the forest floor, I feel completely relaxed. A pang from remembering what happened earlier goes through my mind, but I sigh as I know that I will clear it up when I get back to the house with my stuff. I'm sure shit like that happens all the time in a house full of insanity ridden people like me.

 

I can almost swing myself from trunk to trunk; the trees are so close together. I end up near the bottom in more time than I thought because of the wet slope, where I have to stop for a second and focus my attention on enhancing my sight because the trees are so thick; they don't allow any moonlight through. It takes a minute, but I manage to get my eyes to stretch into slits like before and widen my range of sight.

 

I gasp in awe as everything slowly brightens up in a light emerald color. The dirt in the hills has been eroded away by the rain runoff to expose the jagged shale underneath, then relentlessly weathered away even more to make the smooth, layered steps of the enormous waterfall. They arc out with every step until they come to a large, chest deep pool at the bottom that surprisingly looks incredibly clear, and shimmers with thousands of tiny, white geode crystals at the bottom. The pool overflows at each side only slightly- just enough to get all of the leaves and fallen debris out of the little pool and flowing down the hill on either side. As I take a step closer I notice some tiny pink lotus flowers at the edges; their roots extending down and winding against each other to form a mass that seems to glow in the very limited amount of moonlight. I bend down and take a petal in between my thumb and forefinger, reveling in the silky feeling as the flower bobs in the wake from the falling water.

Standing back up, I look all around me and see a few willow trees dotting the bank of the pool; their long leafy tendrils blowing in the autumn breeze and gracing the surface of the water where the lotuses break off into tinier groups.

"I guess you have come a long way." A soft voice carries down from close behind me.

I whip around and hold up my fists in defense like EJ taught me, but the person who spoke so lightly to me holds their hands up, signalling that they mean no harm. It's a young woman with pearly pink skin and a motherly grin on her lips. She is wearing a flowy, white summer dress that lets its pleated bottom softly sway in the wind. She lowers her hands and takes a few cautious steps forward, keeping her eyes wide and carefully trained on the sloped ground.

I don't feel very on edge as she moves closer to me, so I lower my hands as well and politely hold a hand out to her, ready to run if necessary. She stares at my hand for a second- light surprise in her features- before daintily taking it and hopping down onto the slightly rocky bank I stand on. She stays light on her similarly bare feet, and lands with her toes first- almost seeming to float down because of her graceful air. Her hip length blonde hair flows down after her and wraps around her waist for a second before falling back into place.

"I mean your home- you must have come a long way to get here. There are no houses around here for many miles except for mine." Her soft spoken, airy voice is soothing to my ears, but I can't help but groan a little as I hear that I might have gone in a very wrong direction. A soft hum of a laugh flows out of her mouth as she removes her hand from mine to stifle it. "You may stay with me until morning, if it is to your liking. It is all I can offer to a wary traveler. If you had come in a season of warmth, I would offer for you to bathe here, but I fear it is too cold for that now." She turns her head up to the waterfall, then back to look up into my eyes. There is a certain mysterious glint in them that is really alluring, and I want to talk with her more, but I feel that I need to get back to the safe house and talk it out with my friends.

"Thank you, but I... um... should get back to my friends." I feel bad turning her down, but she simply smiles.

"Please at least come in for some tea. I couldn't forgive myself if I let you go off into the cold night without being healed from what ails you first." She turns her kind smile to the ground and twists her toe into the rock a bit bashfully. "I... also need someone to practice my healing on. It seems being out in the wilderness leaves me with very few patients." She looks up into my eyes again, and this time they are filled with a shimmering gold color instead of a crystalline blue. "But it seems you may have a touch of similarity with me, stranger. It is hard to find beings such as I, even if I were desperately trying to look." She takes a delicate hold of one of my hands and starts moving to the right of the bank, coaxing me to follow her. I give in and move along next to her, pressing my lips together in nervousness, yet thinking it couldn't hurt to stay for a minute.

"If you are like me, then do you know the way back to the safe house I was in?" I mutter my question, feeling like I shouldn't break the soft, comfortable peace between us by talking too loud.

"The safe house... do you mean the Creepypastas' headquarters?" She turns to look up at me as she holds back a thick patch of vines from one of the willow trees, revealing a mossy wooden door. She then pulls it open for me and ushers me inside.

"I think... I heard them say that is what they call themselves." I confusedly mutter, but still have a bit of hope laced through my tone.

I step into the room as she comes up with an answer and automatically feel warm and comfortable. The floor is made up of chopped wooden planks and the walls are made up of the extremely thick trunks of the trees that I saw surrounding the waterfall. There seems to be clay sandwiched between the crevices that also holds the tightly fitted wooden planks of the ceiling. A crackling fire burns in a stone hearth cut into a few thick trunks at the left edge of the room with a plush, light brown couch sitting in front of it on a reed woven mat. She shuts the door behind me and moves to a table lining the wall nearest to me; its drawers and surfaces cluttered with bottled herbs and various things. She picks up a couple of herbs and moves to the right of the tiny cabin, picking up a metal teapot and another tiny metal ball to put the tea into.

She motions for me to sit down, so I politely take a few steps more, then sit down on the couch in the middle of the small room.

"First tell me- what is your name, stranger?"

"(Y-Y/n)." I stutter as she moves to place the pot on the fire, putting the ball into it that is now stuffed full of crushed tea leaves and other herbs. She puts the top on the teapot, then dusts her hands of on her dress and pushes herself up to face me.

"My name is Mira. The house you are looking for is hidden from my kind, however I am sure that it is around a quarter of a mile South from here."

"Your kind?" I confusedly mutter. She moves towards me and sits down on the floor in front of me, crossing her legs. I flinch a little as she takes a hold of my bleeding and beaten up feet, then relax as I feel a slightly warm and tingly feeling comes from her hands and soothe my wounds.

"The Samarin; much like the Creepypastas. I happen to be one of the few good ones." She fondly talks as she concentrates on holding my feet still. I blink in shock. A couple of days ago I thought people with special powers weren't even real- now I'm learning there are different races of them? She looks up at me with light confusion, then a look of understanding washes over her motherly features. "You seem young, are you just learning about this?"

"I... yeah." I bashfully run a hand through my hair.

She nods, reaffirming her original thoughts, then closes her eyes and concentrates again before opening her mouth to talk again. "The Samarin can be good or evil, but they mostly turn out evil once their abilities manifest... the evil ones tend to be very nasty towards other Samarin, regular people, and especially the Creepypastas. No one knows why, but that is the main reason their headquarters are hidden from all Samarins and regular people alike."

She gently places my feet back on the floor and moves around the couch again to grab a cloth, dunking it in a bucket of water near the door. She then comes back to sit in front of me again. She picks up my right foot with the same gentility and kindness as before and runs the cloth over it, working all of the dirt and blood away from my skin.

"I heard that one Samarin had managed to infiltrate the house two springs ago. She had been beaten by another Samarin very badly, and temporarily lost her memories after suffering from a concussion- from what I was told. One of the Creepypastas found her, carried her to the safe house, and nursed her back to full health. She stayed there for nearly a month, and he helped her get her memories back, but unfortunately as soon as she found all of them again, she remembered the evil in her and it took her over again, then she tried to attack the ones seeking refuge there."

My eyes widen. I piece the puzzle together a bit, but I still need one last bit of information. "Do you know what her name was, by chance?'

She picks up my other foot and thinks for a second, then starts washing it again. "It reminded me of a spice, but that is all I can recall. I'm truly sorry."

"No, no, don't be sorry. You really cleared a lot up for me, thank you." In all honesty, it actually confuses me a bit more, but I'm still thankful for the information.

"One thing, though. Apparently since then, the tall man maintaining the safe house has put up even more defenses besides the mind manipulation. Even though a Samarin or a human can only get as close as a mile away before being forced to go another way through it, if they manage to get in somehow, they can only stay for five minutes before they are teleported back out at the very edge of that one mile parameter." She finishes talking and sets my foot on the floor, looking up into my expression with another motherly grin, that turns almost sheepish. "I- I have to apologize. I do not get many visitors, and I seem to have gotten carried away..."

"No, it really is fine. You have done so much for me, and I really thank you for it."

She brightens up again, and turns back to the pot of now boiling water over the fire. She picks it up by the heat resistant metal handle and carries it back over to the counter on the other side of the room. I turn back around to face the fire, placing my hands out in front of me to feel the warmth. She moves next to me and sits down, then hands me a steaming cup of the sweet smelling herbal tea.

I take a small sip and hum, closing my eyes as I revel in the taste and the warmth. I look down after a minute and see that the skin on my feet looks incredibly smooth and untouched now, and not even a hint of a scratch is left. I hum in approval, which makes Mira laugh.

A few minutes of silence later, I finish off the last of my tea and finally feel 100% calm for the first time in a while.

"I can't thank you enough, Mira." I give her a light grin, which she returns as she sips at the corner of her cup. She takes my cup in her hand and then stands up again.

"Please take these." She bends down and grabs a pair of what looks to be straw woven sandals before holding them out towards me.

"Oh, thanks. I didn't want to mess up your hard work and was wondering how, but you've solved the problem." I chuckle lightly, taking the sandals and putting them on my feet. She really is far off from the conventional ways of society. I thank her anyway.

"Please be careful, there is a very frightening creature that lurks around here sometimes." She warns with worry in her eyes.

"It's alright, I already met the ugly sucker."

She blinks a couple of times, then laughs brightly and follows me as I move towards the door. I readjust my bag on my shoulder and pry the door back open, stepping out onto the rock again and turning back to wave goodbye.

"Oh, before you go, would you please tell Jack that I said hello if you get back to the safe house? I often wonder how he is doing. He hasn't been here very... um... recently." She wrings her hands together and bashfully grins at her feet. I blink in surprise, noticing the slight longing in her voice.

"He's doing great, but I will tell him." I say with a knowing tone, then wink at her, which causes her cheeks to turn pink. I then wave goodbye to her and start heading in the direction she pointed me to with more knowledge about the world I have been thrown into, but also a bit more confusion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, I know this chapter was a lot to take in, but I kind of wanted some new plot. I’m kind of sick of hearing “ooh Zalgo’s gonna get ‘cha” and shit like that, so I’m making a new bad guy/race of bad guys. It is a lot of information, and I’m sure you’re probably confused, but I’ll try reiterating it so you don’t have to worry about forgetting as I said up there ^. But I really hope you like the new concepts, because I’ve worked pretty hard on this plot and I have pretty big plans coming from it. Hope you enjoyed! :)


	15. The History Between Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Early chapter update- I'll be offline this weekend because I'll be camping and our phone plan apparently doesn't have roaming data. Expect Monday's chapter to come up in the late afternoon. Hope you enjoy! :)

WARNING IMPORTANT

Listen, there are some very serious, mature concepts in this chapter that I believe need to be slightly explained because they are pretty heavy. There are mentions of committing suicide, because in my opinion, the type of personality and morals that I have portrayed the reader to have lead me to believe this is a crucial dialogue that would realistically happen from this perspective. BY ALL MEANS, I do not think suicide is a joke or light concept to be toyed with, and I did not put it in there for shits and giggles. I'm striving for realism, and that is what I think is necessary. So please try to understand my point of view as the author.

Thank you. -morgancatlovey

 

Your POV (please read ^^^^)

With one last heave, I wedge myself out of the space between two extremely thick Evergreen trees and feel myself diving face first into the grass. At the last second I tuck and roll, but not without a very uncomfortable visit between my face and the cold, dewy grass outside of the tree space. Throwing myself back onto my feet and dusting myself off in embarrassment, I let myself exhaustively lean against one of the gargantuan trees I just wiggled my way around.

A breath of relief blows between my lips as a tired grin works itself onto them. The safe house stands proud and tall in front of me with the moonlight casting an almost eerie glow around the edges from behind. There are little to no lights on in the front except for the dim light of a lamp in the living room, which I can see just barely through the window on the porch, so it has a bit of a creepy vibe emanating from it.

It took me for-fucking-ever to reach the place from Mira's because of the ever annoying slope that I had a lot more trouble climbing up than I did climbing down. On top of that, the trees are tall and thick enough to create a very effective barrier between me and the house, and I just had the time of my life squeezing through the damned things without really knowing where that stupid dirt trail that I took a couple of days ago was. I'm glad I went to say my goodbyes at the house and found someone I could hike off to talk to, but now that I'm here, I realize just how much I missed the place.

I shove myself away from the rough bark and take a few steps forward, but as I make my way towards the front door, another reminder of what happened earlier makes a heavy feeling settle into my stomach. I wearily train my eyes on the front porch, debating whether or not I should go in there, or go around the back.

It's true that I want to talk to Masky and figure out how we can fix what we were mad about, but that doesn't make it any less hard to walk right up to him and say, "Hey, what the fuck is up with us?"

I bite my cheek and cast my eyes away, figuring that if I go around the back, I might be able to prepare myself a bit for what I'm going to say- because even though it's been a couple of days, I still have a bit of a crush on him, and I don't know how he feels, but I still don't want to mess up what could be a cool relationship. I make my feet move and shove my hands into my pockets, but still think about it a bit more.

Do I like him because he was there for me when it happened, or just because I want to use him as another distraction? My heart twinges with a little pain. I don't want to feel like I'm just using him as a crutch for my problems, but I still want to be there and have feelings for him... so how do I get rid of that? Who should I ask? Should I even ask?

I find myself wanting to take it all on, just so I don't have to worry anybody about it. Maybe it would be better if I just kept it all hidden and took care of it all myself. This way it doesn't bother anybody, right?

There's a hiccup in my breathing as I realize the door is already in front of me. I stop, flexing my fingers in my pockets nervously before taking my hands out and twisting the knob. Gently pulling the now slightly crooked door open, I stare into the dark hallway. A sense of calm washes over me. I let my shoulders relax a bit, because at least now I don't have to be so on edge. I know now that the house is pretty well protected from the outside.

I take a few steps in and lightly drag the door along with me, cringing as the hinges whine from further use. I look at the study door and press my lips together, deciding that it wouldn't hurt to sit in there and read for a little bit while I wait for morning to come. Masky is probably dead asleep right now and might still be angry, so I can chill in there and wait for the sun to come up.

I don't think I'll be falling asleep tonight. The tea Mira gave me was pretty rejuvenating, and mixed with the uneasiness of the forest at midnight, it has my mind going off like a live wire. But even without the tea or the uneasiness, I don't think I would be falling asleep any time soon anyway.

I lightly press my fingers against the cracked door and peek in. The small glow of a reading lamp blankets the room in a dusty yellow and mingles with the touch of green still left in my vision. I catch the corner of my lower lip between my teeth as I spot a figure lying on the couch next to the reading light, but relax when I see it's just EJ.

He has his legs sprawled out on the cushions and an arm covering his closed eyelids. His other arm dips lazily over the side of the couch, where he has his thumb marking his place in a large book that just barely grazes the floor as it bends his wrist with its weight. He has taken off his mask and laid it on the table beside him, and I can spot the complacent look on his features as he lightly snores.

Squeezing between the door and the frame so it doesn't squeak, I carefully move my feet across the floor and pass him, instead moving behind the large desk to sit myself down in the bay window. I slide my bag back over my head and gently set it down on the floor next to me, then lean my back against the side window and kick my sandals off before pulling my feet up onto the cushion space next to me. I wrap my arms around my knees and peek over the vines creeping up the windowsill to watch the leaves blowing in the wind.

I sit in silence for a few minutes, leaning my ear against the cool surface while I warm myself up. It's nice, and I feel like I could fall asleep here, but the thought alone makes me quickly remove myself from the seat again. I silently pad over to a bookshelf on my bare feet and place the tip of my finger along the spine of a book. I slowly trace my fingers over every book I pass as I walk along, trying to find something interesting that can hold me over until morning with the soft green light in my eyesight.

"You're back."

I whip around; EJ's voice slightly scaring me in the silence of the room. He has pulled his arm off of his eye sockets and turned them toward me, calmly gazing at me as I stare at him. He lifts his book up and sets it on the coffee table next to his mask, then takes his hand up to rub some of the sleepiness out of his face. He then lowers it and peeks at me over his black smudged hand.

"You went home, didn't you."

There is no hint of accusation in his tone, it just sounds like he is saying it out loud to make conversation.

"Yeah. I... got kind of lost on the way back." I let the hand tracing the books fall limply to my side, turning to face him. I let my eyes drop to the floor as I rest my back against the bookshelves.

"I can tell." He lightly laughs as I see him point to the sad looking sandals in front of the bay window, little bits of straw poking out from the base and brushing against my overstuffed gym bag. "You met Mira?" There's a certain warmth in his tone, but yet a certain sadness. A light grin twists the corner of my lips up. I push myself away from the bookshelf and move over to him. He turns his head to follow me as I walk up to him and sit down at the edge of his socked feet, which he pulls in and crosses under him as I turn to face him.

"She seems to have quite the crush on you."

He laughs mellowly and then lightly yawns. His expression then turns to tired curiosity. "Did she happen to tell you what she is while you were there? I... should probably tell you if she didn't."

"Yeah... she told me about the Samarin." He nods, then gives me a look that asks me to elaborate. "I know about the five minute rule and the mind manipulation barrier stretching a mile out. But I don't know how they can get past that anyway..."

He thinks for a second while pursing his lips. "Well, the flaw is that you can get in if a Creepypasta led you in. So that's why we put the five minute rule in place, so that we can't be tricked into thinking a Samarin is actually a CP because they are so similar. If they get in, they also have all of their abilities stripped for those five minutes before they are teleported out."

"Are they... really that bad?"

His expression falters and his eyelids lower in a solemn look before he turns his head to look at the other side of the room. "With Samarin... it's all or nothing- there is no grey area, just black and white. If they are good, they don't even know what it's like to hurt someone, and they are way too trusting because they always see the good- and forget the definition of evil. If they are evil- it's the same way except flipped."

"How can they forget themselves like that?"

"When their abilities manifest, they are completely taken over by the good or the bad. Completely. Unless they forget who and what they are.... it continues to plague their entire being no matter what anyone does." He deftly wipes at the black substance flowing over the bottom of his grey eyelid as it pools up and becomes a bit watery. I inhale a worried breath as I look at his cheek. "So, if you take the absolute worst thoughts and feelings a person has and think of a being that is made completely up by them.... you can understand the concern. They stop at nothing to torture and murder whoever they want, whenever they want to, at whatever cost." He tightly grips the fabric of his jeans, his elongated black nails digging painfully into his skin. A black, inky mass starts to spread and darken around the area, so I hurriedly take his hand on instinct. His pained expression breaks. "I- I'm.... sorry." He murmurs as he turns to me again. He then lets his hand drop out of mine to stem what I think is his blood from the cuts in his leg. He then allows a reassuring smile onto his lips as he sees my concerned expression.

I open my mouth, then close it as I think I might not be reading his actions correctly enough to bring up what I was going to say. He seems like he thinks he is hurting over Sage, but he doesn't have anyone to confide in. I furrow my brows in resolve and open my mouth again. "Mira... also told me about what happened."

He closes his eyelids and somberly nods, his smile slipping away a little bit. "I guessed she did- she does like her gossip." He rubs a hand through his messy hair with a wry grin.

"I'm incredibly sorry that happened to you Jack... but I want you to know I'm here to help in any way I can."

"Don't be sorry, (Y/n). You had nothing to do with it. And don't worry- I'm.... fine." He moves his feet down to the floor and folds his hands in his lap after scooting a little closer to me. He wrings them a couple of times like he is figuring out if he should say something, but then just places a light hand on my shoulder and forces the smile to stay on his face. A twinge of sadness goes through me as his hand falls away and the grin makes the muscles in his face protest. "Enough about me. I know you may not want to hear it, but... he's been waiting for you to come back. He's staked out in the living room... but I practically had to drag him in to get him to stop looking for you."

"He was... that worried?" I murmur, my eyes widening as I look at the side of EJ's face.

He nods, a bit of seriousness finally pulling the strained smile off of his face. "I think he at least understands why you couldn't go and see him when you got back, but he was still worried. And I know you don't want to-"

"No-" I start, unconsciously fisting my hands together in my lap. I've made up my mind- I'm going to face my problems head on. No more running away. "I want to talk to him. I should have stayed to talk to him before." I push myself up, looking at the door for a second before looking away. "I've been acting like an idiot." I coldly mutter.

"You've been acting like any other person would in your situation. Honestly, you've been doing great. But you can't be perfect- just look at all of the rest of us..." He hurriedly coaxes me to calm down. "And... Masky didn't mean to yell- he just... gets frustrated when he doesn't understand his emotions- I'm sure you can tell he isn't very in sync with them." He jokes lightly, getting my sudden burst of anger to fade.

"Yeah... I've definitely noticed."

I hear him stand up and take a couple of steps towards me before feeling his hand gently rest upon my shoulder blade. "I'm sorry about what I said to you earlier- we can't fully understand what you are feeling, but we can try if you let us." He sounds like he is saying it out loud for both of us to hear.

I suck in a shaky breath, feeling a few tears flood into my eyes. I blink them away and turn after a minute of silence, then suddenly wrap my arms around his chest.

"Thank you." I whisper into the fabric of his hoodie, then turn away again and quickly move towards the door before he can react. I move the way I know to get to the living room, moving through the now dark training room and through the sparsely lit and winding hallways until I move through the kitchen door. I take a few steps in, but feel like my feet are being magnetically pulled down to the floor, so I stop right in front of the door to the living room.

I lift my arm from my side to let it hover near the knob, silently preparing myself as I look at the light trickling through the space under the door. I close my eyes, then take a deep, steady breath, and that seems to break the poles' hold on my feet. I take the handle and twist before I can put it off anymore, pushing the door to the living room open.

Masky casts his tired eyes over his shoulder at me with a hard set frown, then widens his eyes in surprise and twists all the way back to face me. I stop as our eyes meet, but take another breath and start moving again.

"I'm sorry."

I only get a couple of steps out of the doorway before he says it, and stop again, letting the door slowly swing shut behind me. I see now that I'm closer that he had his head buried in his hands. He sighs, then turns around again and leans down so his hands are in his hair.

"Listen. I'm not very good at expressing things very well, but I've thought about it so much while you were gone, that I know what I want to say, so please let me just say all of it before we talk..."

He waits for me to say something, but I know I'm not going to- I can't even move, much less say anything. Those shitty little magnets have suddenly taken a hold of my feet again. When I don't make a sound, he continues with what he wants to say.

"I shouldn't have yelled, or even got mad at you. I didn't have the right to- and I just got frustrated with myself... so I'm sorry."

He pauses, but I sense that he is going to say more. The magnets let go of me, and suddenly I feel like I'm practically running to the couch, but I know I'm only walking. I set myself down next to him, silently looking at him as he holds his head in his hands.

"You just had me- us so worried." He practically whispers into his hands. I watch, eyes widening as he continues talking. "I thought I was losing you and I felt myself feel..." He huffs out a breath of frustration and curls his fingers in to his hair, gripping it tightly into his hands. "I just need to know you are safe, and I want you around me. I'm selfish, and I screwed up, and I hate it." He turns his head away from me and grips even tighter. I hesitantly move my hand forward and brush my fingertips along his hands, which instantly stop gripping his hair so tightly when I touch them.

"Masky, I don't care if you're selfish, or that you yelled... I was the one that was selfish- I took advantage of you being there for me."

He looks up from his hands to meet my weary, tired eyes and shakes his head, then turns his eyes down to the floor again. "I don't remember you throwing yourself at us or playing any real mind games with us- you weren't even using us at all. Hoodie and I should have stepped back. It started off with us trying to take your mind off of your problems sometimes, because we know how harmful it is to bottle it all in and keep thinking about it, but we sometimes forgot what happened to you because you hid it all so well. Still, nobody was using anybody- we were happy to help in any way we could- obviously- although we know now that it wasn't the best way to help you."

"So... we were actually on the same page the whole time?" I face palm a bit.

A look of slight humor forms on his face as I shake my head at myself. Well, I guess a lot of shit becomes clearer when you actually just sit down and talk about it.

"I guess so, yeah. And please, remember that you don't have to face all of your problems yourself- all you need to do is ask one of us for any help, although it sounds weird coming from me. I took a page out of Jack's book for this, I guess." He lightly laughs, causing me to smile. "But anyway, lean on us a little- 's what we're here for." He lightly nudges my arm, jostling a few thoughts around in my mind.

I realize just how much it hurt to keep all of my problems to myself and keep it all hidden away- all it did was come back stronger and hurt me even more. I remember how good it felt to confide in EJ, and how much better I felt after I could actually vent a bit, even though I did feel bad about blowing up in Masky's face (but he provoked me, so it's all good). I admit now that I see that I was wrong; keeping it all in would hurt somebody pretty badly- and that someone was me.

"...Alright. I'll try." I murmur after a couple of seconds. He takes the hand he nudged my arm with and lays it on my shoulder, lightly squeezing it. I meet his gaze and place my hand over his, keeping it there for a few seconds while looking into his eyes with a calm grin.

The moment holds for a long minute, but then as soon as we realize that we're holding hands, we pull apart from each other with light embarrassment. I realize that it's a lot harder actually communicating our feelings to each other than just fooling around, because that doesn't always have to include knowing what thoughts are on the other person's mind, which are the most private things people have to share.

"Well, um, now that I know you're okay, I'm going to go up to bed." He rambles through his words, picking up his mask from the table.

"You couldn't sleep because of me?"

"N-no, I was up already."

A quirky grin plays on my lips as I catch onto his blatant lie. I laugh a little behind the hand I had on his, then yawn a little.

"I think I'm going to stay up with a book- not really ready to sleep yet- but really, thanks for talking with me. I'm sorry I yelled back at you."

"Thanks for listening, and don’t worry about it." He turns and looks at me again, which I turn to hold his stare. "W-well, alright. Goodnight." He pushes off of the couch after a couple of seconds and stumbles a little, which I pretend I don't see.

"Goodnight, Masky." I murmur as I watch him move up the stairs. He turns at the last second and waves, which I return before he moves out of my sight. I let out a soft sigh, finally content now that everything has been cleared up, and that I have all of my feelings under control now. I realize that I've grown up a bit more since I got here and went through this. Just because I may be an adult to society according to my age, doesn't mean I can act like one... but now I think that I'm actually starting to fill those shoes a little bit with the help of Masky, Hoodie, EJ, and all of my other friends. I sigh as I push myself up from the couch, ready to go and wind down with a nice, interesting story until the morning comes.

"Well that was sickeningly sweet."

I whip around to spot Jeff slumped against the slightly open front window, twisting himself so his arm lays on the windowpane as he sits on the wooden swinging bench in front of it.

"Where the hell did you come from at-" I look at the grandfather clock sitting in the corner of the room that chimed earlier only to widen my eyes in surprise, "four in the morning?!" I incredulously direct to both myself, and to him. I resist the urge to cough as I accidentally read his emotions again, the jealousy filling my mouth with an uncomfortable taste before I swallow the feeling back.

"It's a slow month for murder apparently- I missed the hunt last night too, so I have to make up for it."

"You have to murder?" I accusedly growl at him, which causes him to roll his eyes.

"Look, even if I didn't want to, I would have to find some waste-of-space loser to stab anyway." He sticks a small switchblade in his mouth like a toddler looking for something to suck on, then deadpans when my look gets even darker. "Nobody's told you what you have to do yet, have they?" He states mostly to himself, but I still confusedly shake my head.

He lifts his arm off of the windowpane and waves me over, wanting me to join him outside. I furrow my brows at him, glaring at his black shaggy hair as he turns to look out into the slowly brightening night sky. Nonetheless, I push myself off of the couch and make my way over to the front door. I open it a tiny bit, peeking through the crack at him with my same scowl.

He rolls his unblinking eyes and pats the spot on the swing next to him. I hiss out a breath through my teeth and shove the rest of the way through, then close it back and slump down on the swing, jostling him slightly.

"I know this might come off as a ton of shit, but if you're a Creepypasta, you have to kill every three months or you lose your abilities for a month after that. But in that fourth month, if you still haven't killed someone, you die."

My eyes widen, but still don't compare to his as he peers at me from his slumped position next to me. A few short breaths come out of my mouth, then I shake my head at him.

"You're lying. Quit playing around, Jeff. This isn't funny."

"(Y/n)."

"Stop it." I keep shaking my head, a grimace forming on my features.

"I'm not lying, (Y/n)."

A tidal wave of dread numbs my whole body. My muscles go lax and I feel my head slowly fall to hit the back of the swing, but barely notice anything except that my eyes are suddenly looking up at the cobwebbed wooden ceiling of the porch overhang.

I slightly hear Jeff saying my name and poking my shoulder, but I'm stuck in my thoughts, and I don't care what else he has to say to me right now. It feels like every time I solve one of my problems, another fucking problem just suddenly shows up.

I let my head loll forward again, my breathing shallow and my hearing muted as I dazedly get up and walk back through the door without looking back at Jeff.

And suddenly, I blink and notice that I'm sitting in the bay window again with Masky violently shaking my shoulder as light from the morning sun makes the house cast a shadow out onto the grass in front of me. I suck in a large breath and whip around, hearing his shoulder crack as I grip it too hard. He winces in pain, but stops shaking me and looks into my terrified gaze with sudden confusion and worry.

"Please. Don't tell me it's true."

I mute the slew of thoughts coursing through my head for a second to listen to his answer.

"What-"

"I have to kill people to stay alive?" I squeak the words barely audible through my desperation for him to tell me Jeff is wrong. That he's lying. That I was dreaming. That there is some. kind. of. mistake.

Several different emotions flash across his unmasked face in quick succession at my words; shock, then disbelief, then anger, then worry, and then cut-edge seriousness.

"Who." He half growls.

I open my mouth, then close it, not wanting to be a snitch. Masky presses his lips together so hard they turn white, then he shakes his head.

"Nevermind. I know who told you anyway. Come on. Breakfast is ready."

He clasps my hand with his and practically jerks me off of my seat, making me stumble over my bag as he moves towards the open door. He grates his teeth together, squeezing my hand even harder as he unconsciously drags me along behind him.

"Goddammit Masky, HEY!" I yell at him just as we almost make it through the study door. He instantly lets go of my aching hand and turns around, his eyes wide open and his hands up. I think he opens his mouth to apologize, but I simply growl out another response. "Answer me."

"This is exactly why we didn't want to tell you yet-"

"MASKY!"

He flinches as I yell at him, but I need to hear the answer from him- someone I know I can trust. He defeatedly sighs, letting his hands fall to his sides as he casts his gaze down to the floor, his teeth gritted together. My eyes widen, knowing the answer without even having to hear him say it.

I unmute the thoughts slamming around my head. First I realize that I'm in a house chock full of killers, and the people I trusted hid it from me. Then I sympathize as I think that they would have to kill to survive whether they liked it or not. And lastly I pick out the thought that caused my mind to stop functioning.

I'm going to have to murder somebody. And then I'll be exactly like the people I'm getting revenge on- the people I want dead. And if you add the two...

It means that I'd want to- that I would have to... kill myself.

I feel myself hyperventilating at that thought, and I feel my eyes glazing over again, but a harsh pain in my shoulders brings me back again.

Masky looks into my eyes, searching through them for the light behind the dim exterior. I jerk my shoulders away from him in sudden explosive rage.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

His expression tightens up but he still keeps his voice steady. "It wasn't my decision alone. We all decided not to tell you yet because you just went through something horrible. We didn't want to give you even more shit to worry about, and it looks like we were right."

I stop yelling and process what he just said. I understand why- even through my panic clouded mind- they hid it from me. My anger fades, but the panic continues to make my breathing rapidly increase and my head feel light.

"I don't want to die." I mutter in a horrified tone, shaking my head.

Understanding flashes through his features, and he steps forward, wrapping his arms around my body- which I now realize is trembling and incredibly stiff.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're nothing like them- the guys who killed your family." He catches onto my nonsensical babbling, and I let myself sink a little into his embrace- hearing exactly what I needed to hear in that second, but I need more. “Think about it this way. You want to torture and kill them, right? So before your three months are up, we should find them. You can then keep them locked away somewhere and space their murders out like criminals already on death row- that will take care of you for at least fifteen months plus the first three…” He keeps trying to console me, but I think with every passing second that I still would be no better than the guys I want to kill anyway.

“I’m still going to be a murderer like them…”

“(Y/n), you are nothing like them.” He repeats. “They didn’t have to kill all of those people. Fate has fucked you over to where you are forced to have to murder in order to stay alive. It’s like a fucked up game of Saw- you either kill other people and save yourself, or…”

He realizes in a second what I’ve been thinking and instantly stops talking. I feel like he has just spelled out my death sentence before me.

“Eighteen months… to live.” I emotionlessly mutter after I get past the thoughts of being exactly like those men.

He’s right, I want to avenge my families with their deaths, but what will I do after that? I don’t want to kill anyone besides them- would it be better if I just faded away after it all?

I violently shake my head as a sharp pang goes through me and shuts up the thoughts in my head except for one. The thought of leaving my friends behind is excruciating on top of everything else, and I would hate to make them feel the pain I have felt from the people in my life dying. I want to live, not let myself fade away. I’ll try to find another way and stay strong.

“(Y/n)?” He sees the sudden resolve in my eyes.

“I’ll find a way. Don’t worry.” I clench my fists at my sides, then look up into his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere without you guys- eighteen months be damned.” I give him a confident grin.

His eyes widen, then his expression softens. “You don’t even understand how glad I am to hear you say that.” He buries his head into my hair, his light breath ghosting over my ear. I mold into his embrace and continue to talk, so he turns to look into my eyes again.

“Yeah. Fuck. I’m a mess lately.” I laugh a little, the worry washing away from me for now at least. I keep looking into his soft brown eyes, now not as dull as I remember them being from when we first met on the interstate.

“Welcome to the club.” He jokingly rolls his eyes and brings his hands up from my back to ruffle up my hair. I lean into his neck with a warm smile, welcoming the comfort of his body against mine for a second as I place a deft hand on the peak of his hip bone and breathe him in. After a few calm breaths, I pull away from his chest and back up a couple of steps, pulling the hairband out of my hair and threading my fingers down through it in a couple of swipes of my hand. I then shake my hair out, the ringlets falling over my shoulders in soft beach waves.

“Alright. Let’s go blow this popsicle stand the fuck up. I’m hungry as hell, and I have some ass to kick.”

He bursts out laughing and turns to walk with me as we exit the study and into the hallway. He moves past the training room door and goes through the next, which leads down a long hallway lined with picture frames. We then exit the hallway and walk into the living room. I note the path so I don’t have to go through the maze of hallways again to get to the kitchen from the study.

I yelp as I feel a small, sharp pain in the heel of my foot, but jerk my heel up before I can fully step on it. I look down to see a navy colored shard of glass sticking out from between the floorboards and remember that I accidentally shattered BEN’s TV screen. I look over to where the flat screen was on the wall and see that it has been taken down and carried off. Most of the glass has been swept away, but little peices glimmer in the light from between a few cracks.

I sheepishly grin and step in a different direction, keeping my eyes trained on the floor so I don’t screw up the healing job that Mira did last night.

As we enter the kitchen, I hum as the smell of muffins reaches my nose. I take a deep breath of the sweet scent, inhaling it as I move through the dining room door behind Masky. I peek around him with worry and catch a few eyes turn to me as they continue their conversations, but I softly laugh as they whip their heads back around- seeing Slenderman’s bandaged tentacles whipping around behind him as his face pulls into what looks like a pretty fierce glare. I appreciate the gesture. I move to the right of the long table as Masky moves to the left, trying to stifle my laughter as I see Toby get excited as he sees me and Masky and tries to open his mouth to talk, but it seems that someone has rolled about three feet of duct tape around his head to shut him up.

EJ snaps his head up with a surprised snore as he hears Toby, a large smudge of black on his mask from where he had apparently dozed off leaning into his hand. Hoodie, looks at me kindly, but doesn’t stare for too long as he keeps spooning his cereal into his mouth.

I silently sit between EJ and Hoodie in my same seat as yesterday and start grabbing my food.

“I was worried you had turned deaf- I yelled in your ear to come to breakfast this morning, but I got no response.” I give EJ a sideways grin as he yawns behind his mask, leaning his head onto his propped up hand again. “I guess sending lover boy over here to wake you up was a good idea.”

Masky scoffs from across the table, his mask pushed up to reveal his mouth as he takes a bite of a freshly baked muffin. I guess that he put it on when we were in the kitchen. Hoodie slightly laughs beside me, his expression warm and comforting.

Despite the joking, I can tell that EJ is silently asking if I’m okay, so I decide to answer him by acting normal.

“Yeah, I wonder why he could wake me up and you couldn’t. Maybe it’s because of your incredible ability to get every girl to ignore you- I mean it’s really an amazing ability. 100% effectiveness.”

“So you’re saying you’re a guy then? ‘Cause you’re talking to me right now, and if it has 100% effectiveness… You know, that actually doesn’t surprise me- what with your incredible lack in sex appeal.”

I laugh a little at his comeback, but take a small break to eat a muffin. He looks victorious for a second, but I smirk as I wipe a few crumbs from my chin, readying myself for my own comeback.

“One question. How is it that you’ve been a cannibal for so long and never actually managed to eat a girl out?”

“You don’t know that!” He snaps his head off of his hand, his embarrassment radiating off of him.

“Well I know now!” I laugh, causing both Hoodie and Masky to snort as they see him cross his arms and angrily pout. He shoves my arm slightly and gets up from the table, starting to walk away. I rush to grab a bit of fabric from the back of his hoodie before he gets away, but he almost tugs me out of my seat in my attempt to stop him.

He glares over his shoulder at me, so I continue with what I’m saying.

“I’m sorry, Jacky- I didn’t mean it. If it’s any consolation, I’m sure you’re the only guy here that actually knows where the G-spot is.” I say just loud enough for him and Hoodie to hear. “Although it is a shame that you will never get the opportunity to use that knowledge. The only way you could make a pass at a girl is if you shat her out.” Hoodie practically almost spits out his cereal as he hurriedly swallows to choke-laugh at my incredibly crude humor. I don’t know what has gotten into me this morning- maybe it’s all the depression that has been going through my mind and getting me down. I don't want to be depressed anymore, just happy and comfortable with my friends.

“I think I liked it better when you weren’t talking to me.” He grumbles and takes off into the other room. I grab a muffin and run after him, not seeing Masky’s slightly jealous expression. He doesn’t get up to run after me, though.

EJ slumps down on the couch in the living room with a sigh. I plop down on the floor next to him and cross my arms on the ledge of the couch that his body isn’t on, continuing to eat my muffin.

“Alright, no holding back. Insult me with all you’ve got. I deserve it.” I mumble between bites.

He turns and looks at me from behind his mask and thinks a bit.

“No, that’s okay.” He says after a long minute.

“What the hell were you thinking about for that whole minute, then?” I laugh a little, not really trusting the grin pushing up the sides of his mask.

“Well, I was trying to see some things from your point of view, but I found it kind of hard because I don’t think it’s physically possible for my head to be that far stuck up my ass.” He turns on his side and props his head up on his hand. “Your turn.”

I give him a wry grin. “Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re so full of shit, Jacky.”

He bemusedly shakes his head and goes to come up with another insult, but we immediately stop talking as three loud knocks resound through the living room, spaced out and incredibly creepy. I give him an alarmed look, which he just shrugs his shoulders at.

“Do people usually knock?” I confusedly whisper, not really expecting it from what I have seen from the other beings that live here.

“No. Maybe it’s someone from another safe house? Slender might not be receiving some messages and we don’t know about it…” He murmurs back, then pushes himself up from his place on the couch. “I doubt they’re done yet. Go ahead and walk back in to tell him- I’ll get the door.” He gives me a reassuring smile. I nod, reminding myself that I don't have to worry about it too much. The house is safe. He grabs my shoulder just as he gets off of the couch and I stand up. “We’ll continue this in the training room after this- is that alright with you?”

“Yeah.” I excitedly reply with a soft tone. I really liked our last training session, and I think it will be even more fun this time around with us playing around a bit more.

I start to move off to the kitchen as he moves to the door and reach the open doorway just as he pulls it open. I turn with my curious grin still on my face as I hear the creak of the door. I want to see what kind of creepy dude equates to the likes of Slenderman.

“Sorry to keep you waitin-”

Jack stumbles back after a second of silence. Black, tar-like blood slaps onto the floor as the burly man in the doorway jerks a familiar knife from his lower abdomen, his glare already boring into my widening eyes.


	16. Wrath of Responsibility

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked that cliffhanger!
> 
>  
> 
> Pleasedon'thurtme. Just remember that updates are on Monday and Friday.

My breath gets uncomfortably stuck in my throat and my body becomes paralyzed from head to toe; my thoughts running through my mind so fast that I can practically hear them humming. The silhouetted man and I stay locked in each other's gaze as his yellowing, crooked teeth start appearing between his incredibly chapped lips as his malignant grin grows even wider.

"There ya are, ya little freak bitch." He digs his stubby, dirt crusted fingers into the hilt of my mother's kitchen knife. "I been lookin' all over this forest for you. I din't get a proper goodbye." His words come out in a sinister, animalistic growl that morphs into dark laughter.

"H-u-man... h-ow-" EJ tries to say, but the man slams his foot into his stomach, apparently unfazed by his inhuman appearance.

EJ convulses on the floor with a heart-shuddering cough which brings up a black mass that pools on the floor beside his face. I know if he were a regular human, he would have died almost instantly from where he was hit combined with the stab wound. But he's right. How in the hell did a regular human get here? I throw away the thought. Who the fuck cares? He has to die now anyway.

Every muscle in my face turns taught as I grit my teeth so hard I feel my jaw popping along with all of the bones in my dominant hand. I let my head move, lifting my chin up to look down the bridge of my nose at the man in a revolted and viscous expression.

"You're right. I should have seen how many knives I could stick into the worthless sack of skin you call a body before you finally gave up on your miserable life a whole lot sooner you pitiful, pussy-faced bitch." I snarl, the dual tone only surfacing from the menacing growl that crawls from my throat as I exhale another breath.

I take a second to try and exercise some control over myself and look at my options. I haven't actually tried to murder someone before, and while I'm powerful- I remember that EJ has taught me to stay level headed to be the most efficient.

I know I don't have a weapon I can use near me except the one in his hands, so I hope that my fists will be enough.

If I call for someone in the kitchen for backup, his death will not be mine to take anymore- it will be free reign. Especially since they would be scared that a human somehow got in, and that we aren't completely safe here anymore. Insanity mixed with fear is not a good combo for the people around me right now.

I think for a second about restraining him. I know that there is no way we as a collective group could force him down before he sees the assortment of beings and runs like I know he will- and even with Slender's abilities being sufficient enough to stop him, we couldn't risk further weakening him by trying to restrain this guy. And not to mention, if we restrained him, there could be a chance of someone else trying to get in an easy kill- and I know that they would get away with it because everyone else would have better things to worry about. I just can't prolong his murder like Masky and I had talked about doing before. This is the only way I can be incredibly sure that I will be the one to rip his life away just as he did to the people I cared about.

I glance down at EJ, who is stopping his bleeding with a hard hand against his stab wound, and sees my eyes flash to him. He gives me a slight nod to signal that he will be alright as he sees my muscles give away my intent to move forward. I let a grin start to form as I take his nod as his permission and support, the confidence rising in me a little more.

"For someone so eager to die, ya seem ta be hesitatin' a whole lot, dumb cun-"

The sound of my excited heart floods my ears in a wave, and a sly grin plays at my lips- now completely ready to move. I stalk forward with my eyes trained on his, placing my still bare feet on the floor one directly in front of the other; languidly padding along the floor like a tiger confident of her prey's cornered state. I don't need to rush it and end up pinned or using too much energy. Even though I know I'm strong, if I let myself get held down, it will be all over for my revenge plan. The feigned, complete arrogance radiating off of me successfully brings his mind to even more panic, making him less prepared to hit me where I am accidentally unguarded.

I walk up to him, getting almost a foot away before he finally snaps out of his terrified trance and slashes. I effortlessly duck and dig my finger into the exact place in his shoulder that I had stabbed him before, now crudely wrapped with gauze. I chuckle darkly as I realize that I'm more worried about the stain of his filthy blood on the floor instead of my own life as I dig my nail in even more to get him out of the house.

He starts to yell, but trips and falls down the steps. Somehow he still manages to stay on his feet while I keep light on mine as I continue to move. He backs up only slightly, and keeps swinging without purchase. I keep dodging until I'm almost a meter into the grass- and then I finally let go of the leash I was holding my anger back with.

I step and swing up at the taller man, my fist colliding with the bottom of his chin in what feels like punching flesh covered steel. With the adrenaline simply flowing through me, not rushing and blocking all of my senses besides my intent to kill, I grimace at the feeling, but feel satisfied with it as I see his feet lift off of the ground.

His arm jerks up as his head snaps back. I don't see the move in time because my own inhuman speed added onto his when I hit his chin. The tip of his knife suddenly slices through the skin of my bicep, and I let out a frustrated and pained roar. He tries to take advantage of my pain as his feet touch the grass again, his hand flying just past my cheek in a blur of knuckles.

I feel myself struggle for a second to stay on my toes because my balance is too heavily weighted on the side his fist is, but I quickly regain it and steady myself.

I kick my knee up into his crotch, then place a well aimed kick to his ribs as he falls sideways, hearing three crack as his body spins in the air then rolls into the grass in front of me.

He hacks up gobs of blood as I reach down and fist his greasy, dandruff flaked hair in my fingers. He moans in pain and goes to move the knife, but I stomp onto his hand.

A malicious grin forms on my face as I think of a way I could use him. If I can't delay his death very much- I can still get info out of him; knowing this from reading his fear and realizing he will try anything to get me to set him free.

"Really, you kill my family and then you try to come after me- just as I had gotten over them? I just wanted to live in peace, ya know? But I'll tell- you- what." I laugh as I twist my foot into his hand, kicking the knife a good ways away from him by using my toes. I let go of his disgusting hair and wipe my hand on my pants as his face hits the dirt. "I'll cut you a deal. You tell me where the rest of your friends are, and I'll let you go. You can live if you tell me where the rest of them are... but otherwise, all. of. you. die." I let the split tones fade in, yet still keep an almost nonchalant tone.

Of course it's a bluff. He's not getting away from me, but he doesn't know that.

To all others, it might seem unnecessarily cruel to play the mind game- I could kill him and get it over with, or force the info out of him. But this isn't cruelty in my eyes. It's mercy and justice combined. I'm giving him the choice to betray or save someone with the humanity I have left in me- something not even human- to prove who he really is, where he never gave me much of a choice for anything before. Something about gaining some control over all of my abilities has a thought calmly ringing through my mind.

This man quivering in fear could not control himself not to unnecessarily brutalize and murder. I now have the power he does not. If he cannot control himself, then I will control him for the sake of my new and old family. It seems like my responsibility.

He spits blood into the grass in front of him, the red seemingly burning a fizzling hole into the green like a strong acid. He pushes himself to look at me through the corner of his eyes, but never meets my gaze.

"The... fac... tory. F-urther S-ou-outh." He sputters between breaths. "'s abandoned. They're all still 'ere." After he says it, a hard breath forces its way from his mouth, like he is finally laying down on a comfortable cool bed after running a couple of miles in a summer heat. I survey him for a second, analyzing if he is telling the truth.

"Quick to sell out." I knowingly sigh out. I come upon the decision that he's not nearly smart or cunning enough to try and trick me with his combined expression and movements.

He moves to get up, but I lightly kick his head with my foot, then press my foot down on his head so his face is flat in his blood.

"No so fast, sweetheart." I purr. His breath hitches and he tries to scream into the ground, but it is muffled by my foot. I rest my arms on my propped up thigh and lazily lean against them, getting closer to his ear. "I wanna know why they all died."

I lift my foot so he can get his teeth from the dirt. He coughs for a second then opens his mouth again. "We 'ere using the house at the end of da block for sellin' drugs. That day it 'as stormin' pretty bad- so the phone an' most power lines 'ere down, and Ben, our dealer, got careless. The people next ta us saw the deal through the window, and were gonna go tell the cops- so we killed 'em. We knew we'd get caught- too many people'd seen us and could'a turned us in soon as they saw 'em dead and us gone. So we killed most o' 'em in 'eir beds."

"But why the message in blood, the excessive torture?" I growl.

"Your's 'as one of da last houses 'at could'a seen us on da street. It 'as by the forest, and nobody could'a heard em in the next block o’ houses. Two o' us went to the last house and killed the bigger family while the rest set up the scene to leave a message, 'en we went to join 'em to finish it up, but 'at little bitch got away from us so I came back."

I kick him back over to face me, placing my heel down onto his Adam's apple. I try not to shudder as I feel him gulp under my foot as I glare at him with utter revulsion. He cowers into the grass as I push harder, cutting off his air supply as I start to lose my patience.

"(Y/n)." My hand flies up on instinct as I see a blur being thrown towards me. I catch it and look past it, seeing Masky. "Got it from EJ." He nods his head to the object, then turns his body back towards the house to where EJ is now standing against the door frame, grimacing.

I look down at the large switchblade in my hands then grin. "Masky do they know yet?"

"No, you have a couple of minutes at most. I'm getting Jack downstairs." He gives me what I think is an understanding look from under his mask, which I return before facing the murderer again.

His eyes are starting to roll back. I know exactly what he is feeling like right now, and I think it's fitting for him to feel the pain I felt from his actions. I do let up on the strangulation just as he almost passes out, his lungs pulling in a large, jerky, and relieved breath in the time it takes me to crouch even further down and bury my knife into his crotch, then twist.

I cringe as his body convulses from the pain and he tries to scream, but his body needs air more, and quickly pull my knife out from the disgusting area. "That was for raping my little sister."

I move my knife up to his neck and twist my palm upwards, placing the blunt edge near his sternum with the tip digging in. He mutters a "God please save me," which I smile at before I shove it into his throat and quickly drag upwards to his chin before slitting his throat horizontally; making a cross.

More blood coats the grass as his body shudders and jerks as he bleeds to death.

"You wanted to leave biblical messages on my walls and family, so I thought I might as well give you a couple pretty special ones before you die, since you seem to be such a faith-loving individual. 'No man who has been castrated may be allowed among the Lord's people.' 'member that verse?" I let a soft grin form on my lips as I hold his stare, knowing he doesn't have much longer. "I just hope you love your new attributes- or should I say, lack of them." I watch the life in him leave from his eyes as he goes to curse at me, his body still twitching as I turn back to the house.

I hear what I think sounds like a weird sucking noise, then look back- seeing only the bloodied grass. I stare dumbfoundedly, but suddenly remember what Mira had told me. If a human or a Samarin somehow managed to get in, they would be teleported out after five minutes. Part of me just thought if they got in at all, that all defenses were down. I turn my head to the forest and listen incredibly hard for any telltale signs of anyone else around the house to the point where I have to block out the sounds of people actually eating in the kitchen. There is nothing there for what I can assume is at least a half of a mile away, so I turn and start making my way back.

I look down at my clothes and groan as I see splotches of blood here and there. I give up on trying to keep them clean and wipe the blood off of my knife on the sleeve as I pad up the porch again, only to bump into the shoulder of Slenderman. He stares out at the blood-soaked patch with shock.

I sidestep him and take a couple of steps forward before opening my mouth again.

"A human... got past your defenses. He’s dead."

I hear the scratching noise from the skin around his mouth ripping open, then the sound suddenly cuts off as I can only assume that he has teleported back into the kitchen. It is then confirmed a couple of seconds later by the sudden cacophonous noise that erupts from the kitchen.

I simply shove my knife into my pocket after flipping it back in, then start jogging down that hallway to the study again to get to the door I remember EJ telling me was the normal way to get to his room in the basement. I throw open the door and fly down the steps, stumbling to a stop at the very end as I see EJ stitching his own wound on his abdomen shut. Masky stands near him to steady him if he needs it. Both of them jerk their heads up as they see me, their masks thrown off to the side.

We stay in silence for a few seconds, just flicking our gazes between each other before Masky speaks up.

"Anyone else, or just him?"

"Just him for at least a half a mile. Slender and the rest of the house knows now."

EJ hisses as he threads the last bit of string through and ties it off, then slams the needle back down onto the metal operating table he is leaning on with a pained breath. "How'd you kill that fucker? Nice and slow, I hope." He growls between his razor sharp teeth.

"If it's any consolation, I stabbed in the dick while he was still alive." A wry grin forms in the corner of my mouth as both of them visibly cringe and press their legs together a little tighter. "Then I dug my knife into his throat and cut up to his jaw." They unconsciously place their hands over their throats as I continue. "Then I slit his throat cross ways for good measure. And then I quoted a bible verse 'cause he had the audacity to allude to one in my family's blood when he killed them, AND plead for God's mercy after he did it and stabbed you."

"Well good, at least you got him back for stabbing me- 'cause fuck this hurts-" his eyes widen as he sees scarlet blood dripping from my now slightly limp, non-dominant arm. "Let me get you taken care of, then. I'm sure they've got it handled upstairs." He insists as we hear people rushing around upstairs.

I nod and move forward towards them a bit more to sit on the operating table next to EJ as he gets up. He makes a face at the large tear in the sleeve of the hoodie before suddenly jerking the sleeve away from the rest of the fabric. I let out a harsh yell as he catches me off guard and white-hot pain shoots up my arm and through my chest.

"FUCKING DAMN EJ!" I growl and shoot a very dark glare to Masky as he laughs at me. "Remember what I just told you about stabbing that guy in the dick? You guys are next." I growl menacingly.

They lean away a little, but EJ raises a brow. "You couldn't pull it all the way off until I treated your wound or it would damage you more, and the fabric was in my way."

I huff and pout, grumbling “scissors are a thing” under my breath before letting him prod at my lacerated flesh. He twists it around, then picks up a rag that was laying next to him, and gently cleans the blood away.

"It's not deep, but you'll still need stitches just in case. Even if your skin heals again as fast as it has before, it might heal incorrectly."

Masky looks at me with pity as he sees my wary eyes and expression, and holds his hand out to me. "You can squeeze my hand to take your focus away from the pain. It helps."

I take it as EJ gets a sterile needle and more thread, then wipes down my arm more. With a minute of squeezing my eyes shut and holding onto Masky's hand, EJ finally taps me on my good shoulder and nods.

"If if makes you feel any better, Masky cried the first time I gave him stitches."

Masky lets go of my hand and smacks Jack in the forehead with it, getting him to stumble back with a laugh.

"Not. Cool."

"No it wasn't, you were such a blubbering mess-"

A string of bright laughter makes its way out of my mouth and gets them to stop trying to throw punches at each other. Their goal was clear, but I don't care.

"Thanks, guys. Really." I softly murmur, my eyes casting to my stitched shut wound before I turn to meet both of their gazes. "But I do have a couple of questions really quick."

They look at each other, then nod. "We'll try our best to answer you, (Y/n)." Masky says to me before I move to speak again.

"So why is everyone freaking out so much right now about the human getting through when Sage has gotten through before?" I ask, remembering that incident. EJ looks a bit somber, then sheepish when Masky turns to him for the answer- seemingly not knowing about her attack on me.

"Sage knew the way here because I carried her here, so she can already bypass the mind control sometimes, but still very rarely. And I think you said Mira told you about the five minute rule?" I nod and he continues. Masky keeps looking even more left out with every second that goes by. "Well, it's not as much of a problem because we can also block a Samarin's abilities inside the mile radius, so she turns practically harmless for those five minutes. But this human, he didn't know the way- so he couldn't have bypassed Slenderman's power usually, but he did."

"So now we know Slender's defenses are even weaker than we thought, and that most likely anyone can wander in now, so now we have to take further precautions in case they can get in and use their abilities too, and also not have that five minute rule in place to limit their time here. Otherwise we could be barraged by evil, powerful Samarin." They look at me in surprise, at which I just shrug my shoulders. I pay attention. "But the guy was teleported back out after 5 minutes, so that's still up." They look slightly relieved. "I'm just glad I could kill him before that- although I would have liked to wait until my three months were up." I sigh, the shock of actually murdering a person kind of getting to me as I pick a little at my stitches.

"...What?" EJ looks incredibly confused he jerks his head towards Masky. "I thought we weren't telling her?" He asks Masky a bit accusatively. It's his turn to look slightly sheepish about withholding info.

"Jeff told her."

He dramatically rolls his head and lets out an annoyed breath. "That dumbass."

I laugh a little. Usually EJ's super calm and collected, but he seems to be cursing all over the place, which makes it a little uncharacteristically funny. The two next to me relax again.

"Hey, thanks again for letting me have the chance to kill him and having my back." I murmur to the both of them, but mostly to Masky.

"No prob." Masky says as he brings a hand up and ruffles up my hair playfully before jumping off of the table. "Nice knife by the way." He says as he moves forward and starts walking up the stairs. "I'm going to tell Slenderman that the perimeter is safe for at least half a mile and that the 5 minute rule is still working, so stay and rest." He says as he moves up the stairs at a quick pace.

I nod at him even though he can't see it, then turn to EJ.

"Shouldn't I be up there helping?"

"You can, but I'd rather that you rested." His posture falters a little as he takes a breath, his wound leaking out a little blood, but he continues to talk nonetheless. "I would like to see if it might heal as fast as you say it does sometimes- I put in some stitches that will disintegrate if your skin heals over them just in case- but you can go up and help. I'm not going to stop you."

I nod and move off of the table, resting a hand on his shoulder and stopping next to him just as I go to pass him.

"I'm going up to make sure nobody is coming. You told me how dangerous they can be."

"Just please be careful. I don't want to see you get even more hur- I mean you'll piss me off if you come back in here again today, so don't get hurt."

I roll my eyes at him with a light grin. "Alright, go sleep. See you in a little while."

He nods and watches me run back up the stairs. I see people rushing around as I move into the hallway. There is a mass of furniture against the back entrance, and two people are standing guard outside from what I can see when I catch a glimpse through the bay window through the jarred study door.

I walk back into the living room to see about five laptops placed on the table with BEN moving his fingers over the keyboards with incredible concentration. As I move behind the couch I see that people seem to be carrying four or five long range cameras connected to one of each of the laptops and that they are placing them around the forest. He seems to have muted the flashing motion detectors on them, but keeps typing away with his shoulder hunched up against his ear, where he talks on the phone in a group call that he directs everyone with.

I spot Slenderman sitting on the front porch, a very concentrated expression on his features. I hesitantly approach, but know that he will need my help.

"Sir? I um, think I can help you- is there anywhere you need me to be?" Slender keeps his tentacles on his head for a second, his fanged teeth in his ripped open maw clenched in concentration. He then turns to look up at me.

"How good is your eyesight?"

"Fairly inhuman."

"Good, run upstairs and take the first left hallway you can. When you reach the window, there should be a rope to pull to get to the attic. Get on the roof and survey just outside of the mile parameter. I can only survey within the mile. Can you do that?"

"I'm fairly certain."

"Alright. I will communicate with you through direct mind link. Simply say your responses out loud if you find something or if you are unable to do it."

I nod and turn, running up the stairs and down the hallways he asked me to. In no time I'm up on the slanted roof and looking over the landscape.

I close my eyes and take a breath, concentrating all of my focus on only one sense. When I open my eyes, I jerk back a little as I see a leaf fluttering in the wind right in front of me like it is going to touch my eyeball. I pull back my sight a little to where I can just see through the trees.

I see other Creepypastas setting up the cameras where the border is, so I scan past it and focus my hearing as well- but just enough to where I feel a light strain on my brain. After a couple of seconds, the strain is nulled by a slight presence in my brain, silently asking for an answer.

“Alright. I have you covered.” I grin as I readily answer the being patiently awaiting my reciprocative words.


	17. Earning Keep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Can you tell I have a little thing for EJ?) ┐(´～｀)┌

Seven hours have gone by and cameras have been thrown all around the space at the edge of that mile with heat and movement sensors that stretch another good quarter of a mile through the trees. More cameras were scattered within the mile and beyond for good measure with my help, and then other Creepypastas used the bits of their abilities they had left to set up even more defenses. Everyone really outdid themselves.

I took a quick shower in one of the guest bathrooms upstairs immediately after I was sure we were well guarded because I didn't want to bother Hoodie or Masky for a key and I wanted to get the blood crusted and ripped clothes off of me into the trash ASAP. After changing into a comfortable, and somewhat fashionable grey tee and some style ripped jeans from my bag, I made my way back to the living room, where I've been keeping EJ company as he has stayed on call for anyone who needs help.

My head continues to ache from so much prolonged strain, but I don't complain at all as I realize how much Slender has been pushing himself to communicate and use as much power as possible to protect all of us.

He is sprawled out on the couch with cold cloths over his face and bare white shoulders. He has taken off his suit jacket, shoes, and even socks, and his legs go all the way over the arm of the couch to where his feet almost touch the floor. He lays with his white button up pulled open to let air hit his chest as he soundly sleeps as the rest of us try to relax or watch the outside of the house to be alert and ready for anything.

EJ carries in a cup of water from the kitchen, and sits next to me as I sit on a table along the wall near the kitchen. I gratefully take it, completely worn out from the strain. EJ prods at my stitches a bit to clean them up because they haven't healed at all yet. He then takes a look at my hand, which I had almost completely forgotten I even hurt before I got here, remembering grabbing the knife Masky was holding as I snapped.

He mumbles to himself about the possibilities of why my wounds from Sage, my little sister, and I healed almost instantly, yet the injuries I got from Masky holding the knife too tight from my hands and the injuries that were inflicted by that murderer are healing at a regular human's rate.

Jeff walks down from the second floor with an exhausted look on his face. He was out putting up cameras, and ended up being the one who was forced to stay out longer and stake in more tripods. Masky apparently had leaked it to Slenderman that Jeff told me the secret about having to kill to survive, and thought the punishment adequate enough.

EJ crosses his legs under him and prods a little too hard on my knee, only now realizing that he never actually got to see if it was completely and one hundred percent healed as he pointedly ignores Jeff.

"I guess that's the only way you can successfully check out girls, Jack." Jeff snickers. EJ huffs and leans in even more to focus on the tendons in my leg.

"I don't think he's talking to you right now." I softly laugh.

Jeff frowns and walks up to me. I give him a soft glance before moving to look back at EJ with an semi-amused smile.

"I'm sorry I told you about being a CP. I just thought you needed to know the truth."

Both EJ and I look up at him, inherently shocked to hear those words coming out of his mouth. I look all around the room to see if anyone is watching to make sure he is apologizing or something.

"Who is holding your knives hostage now, Jeff?" I playfully murmur.

"...Nobody." He grumbles, shoving his hands into his pockets and averting his gaze. "I just feel bad."

Both EJ and I do a double take, which Jeff sneers at and turns to walk to the kitchen with a sour aura around him.

"Wait, Jeff." I say after a few seconds of shock. "I understand what you were thinking, but it was still a very heavy subject to learn about only a couple of days in- especially after everything that happened. I still thank you for telling me, and for apologizing- I know you hate it- because it means a lot that you still cared."

He looks over his shoulder to see if I might still be kidding with what looks like skepticism, but it's hard to tell his expressions from just his eyebrows and the twitching of his muscles trying to lower his nonexistent eyelids. He drops his sourness as he sees me again, and after a few seconds, he nods and walks off; looking more content than incredibly exhausted like before.

EJ slowly turns back to my leg, and we go back to our comfortable silence. My eyelids droop a little and I feel my brain screaming at me to sleep, throwing plenty of yawns my way as minutes pass. EJ lets out an annoyed sigh after about the twentieth yawn that contagiously makes its way from me to him.

"Quit. It."

"I'm sorry. I've been doing it 100% on purpose this whole time."

He exhales then leans his still unmasked forehead against my leg as he gives up on continuing to hold up his head.

"Getoffo'me." I slur as I lean my back against the wall.

"If you keep making me yawn you should at least let me fall asleep on you as payback."

I groan in response and pitifully nudge his head with my fingertips before allowing my eyes to close. A sharp breath tears through me as the burned image of my decayed sister flashes in my eyes like I looked into the sun for too long.

He jerks up, his gaze automatically going to look out of the window near us to see if a Samarin got in and his hand going to his pocket for what I assume is a weapon, but he relaxes a little when he realizes it's just me. I breathe heavily in and out until I blink the image away.

"You do need to sleep sometime. Especially if you need to keep up your energy to do what you did today again tomorrow." He worriedly sighs.

"...No. She won't be.... doing that tomorrow."

Both of us snap our heads toward the couch as Slender rises up to peek over the edge, holding his towel in place on his forehead.

"I have.... been checking in with other... safe houses."

EJ sends a stern look to him for a second for refusing to rest, then shakes his head in withdrawal- knowing Slender will keep worrying and working, even when he is supposed to be relaxing. His gaze locks with EJ's.

"The safe house... in Liechtenstein... is being terrorized by one of the Samarin. It is... unclear if they know.... of the power deficiency here and are trying to lead... me astray... however the inhabitants need to come here... so they can be protected.... and the only other one strong enough... that I can trust to take my place... is her."

My eyes widen so far that I rival Jeff's neutral expression. EJ has the same expression as I do.

"Would that be the best idea?" Jack skeptically asks, severe doubt in his expression. My own doubt mirrors his.

"Yeah, couldn't you tell them the directions with your mind speak thing?" I'm thoroughly confused.

"I can only use it in... short distances right now because I used too... much energy. This is... why I can't contact them again, until it might be too late. However I can teleport you there to a driving location and... back once you have them... with you. All you would have to do is... drive there, get them, then drive back to the place... where I can teleport you back."

"Beyond that, how would I even get a car?"

"Easy." All three of us turn to look over at BEN, who still sits in front of his five computer monitors, setting up even more precautions and searching for communication in the area that has to do with plans for infiltrating the house. He takes a second away from his furious typing to look back at all of us. "Most cars with push-button-ignition in them have a monitor for GPS and even have their own WiFi hotspot in them for looking up stuff while driving. It would be a cinch to get one of them to start for you and make sure that you have a key with you set with the computer chip codes in them that go with the car I hack."

"Did you just say you can hack a car?" I astoundedly gasp.

A flirty smirk plays on his lips, and I automatically drop my amazed expression. "I can hack into anything, babe." He winks.

He turns back around and I fake throwing up, which gets EJ to laugh under his breath. His worried expression fades back in, though. "How big of a threat is it?"

"Nothing she cannot handle. There is only one Samarin, and they seem to have... only a small amount of power, yet enough to be worried over with seven refugees lacking any powerful, abnormal special abilities staying there."

"Wait- w-what about your brothers? Can't they do anything?" EJ starts grasping at straws.

Slenderman makes a pained expression as he sits up a bit more to look at us. "I originally contacted them... however it seems their... individual locations have grown... and will be almost unguarded without them there to... channel what is left of my ability that I am lending to them. I would be too weak to store power there and keep the defenses up... while they do the job."

I make an incredibly confused expression, so EJ turns to explain. "Slender has four brothers: Trenderman, Offenderman, Splendorman, and Tenderman. They all have different attributes that are used to protect the Creepypastas at the biggest safe houses all over the world, however none of them are the same ability wise. Slender can share his power with them so they can maintain a mind manipulation barrier like the one around this house as well as the five minute rule at their own locations, and usually they could store up his power and keep it running like a generator if they needed to leave, but he's too weak for that now. If they were to leave, they wouldn't be able to keep those barriers in place. So basically they are all tied down right now with the threat of a Samarin uprising seeming incredibly probable." As EJ says his last sentence, a look of even greater worry washes over his features about me going at the prospect of an uprising happening with me being outside of the safe house. "M-maybe we could-"

"I can do it." I pipe up, courage making me speak. EJ looks at me in immediate protest, but I shake my head. "If it means possibly saving seven Creepypastas, I will try, and I will succeed."

"But-"

"I have learned more than enough in the past few days to be aware, protect myself, protect others, and to know when to run. If anything goes wrong, I promise I won't throw myself into an impossible situation. We don't have much time, and they could be in danger, not to mention what would happen if others saw that the headquarters didn't chose to do anything when one of the other safe houses needed help."

Slenderman nods, and EJ looks like he has just been backed into a corner where he has to say yes. "Couldn't she take someone with her to be safe?"

"It would hold me back with your abilities being missing, and not to mention the strain it would put on him." I explain and point to Slender. Slender lays back down, so I nudge EJ's arm so he looks at me. "He's counting on me. I'll be fine. In and out- easy." I whisper encouragingly.

He closes his eyelids and defeatedly sighs, then nods. "Please warn Masky about it. If it were him sitting next to you right now instead of me, we'd probably be in a full out yelling match. Still, he needs to know."

I let out a knowing laugh through my nose. "I will. Would you mind being there to help explain just in case?" He looks a bit warily at me, but slowly nods.

"Great, thanks Jacky." I goofily grin, which makes him bemusedly shake his head and shove me as he pushes himself off of the table.

"I'm going to check if anyone needs anything first. See you later." He pats my knee, then moves off into the kitchen, where I know he will move on and into the hallways to check on people again.

I murmur "workaholic" under my breath, but nonetheless grin and move over to Slenderman. He blows a couple of soft breaths between the white, wispy threads of skin over his parted, elongated teeth, then turns his head to me. "When will I be leaving?" I hesitantly ask.

He thinks for a second. "Truly that depends on the urgency as things progress, however I would appreciate your departure time to be as soon as possible tomorrow. I'm terribly sorry for placing this responsibility upon you so suddenly- however, you know the severity of the situation, I am sure." I nod, and he continues to speak. "I shall arrange the items you will need and plan the route you will take. I will strive to make it as quick and effortless on your part as I am able."

"And I'll try for ya too, babe." Both Slender and I immediately sport a pulsing vein on our foreheads as BEN simply laughs and continues typing away.

"Thank you, and don't worry about it. I'm glad I can be of use. I hope I can earn my keep for staying here."

"You do not have to fret over such things, I- and all other beings here- welcome you wholeheartedly."

"Yeah, Jeff still lives here. You've got nothing to worry about." BEN grins, then gets up, dusting his ripped white jeans off before tucking his hands in his pockets and winking at me before moving towards the kitchen.

Slender shakes his head with annoyance and places the cloth on his forehead over the place where his eye sockets are. "I will prepare your things as soon as the hour passes. In the meantime, I propose informing those around you that you wish to tell and asking them for any advice. You are fairly new to this, and I would not like it if you happened to be taken by surprise."

"Alright. Thank you, sir."

I gnaw on my lip a bit nervously and shove my hands into my hoodie pockets, my mind on figuring out who to tell. I turn and move to walk towards the kitchen to grab a snack of some sort to get some stress off. As soon as I walk into the door, I spot Hoodie worriedly picking at a small slice of cheesecake at the table in the corner. I press my lips together and start to move over to him, my main intent being talking to him- but my ulterior motive being centered around getting a couple of bites of that cheesecake. I mosey up to him while staying near the right wall, then tap his shoulder.

He jumps and drops his fork with a loud klang, looking up at me with surprise. He then sighs in relief as he sees it is just me, then takes his ski mask off with one hand as he places his other over his chest. I watch him curiously as I pull up a chair, looking at the side of his face as he straightens his messed up, dirty blond hair.

"I was beginning to think you forgot about me." He laughs as his milky hazel eyes meet mine. I sheepishly grin as he picks up his fork again and moves the plate towards me a little, causing my eyes to sparkle. He grins and hands me the unused fork, at which I immediately put a small bite into my mouth with and hum contently.

"It'd been a rough night." I murmur after a couple bites.

"I heard. Masky and I have never been so scared in our lives compared to when you woke up yesterday. He... ended up telling me what really happened though, I hope you don't mind." I hand him the fork back and shake my head. He sticks a tiny bite of cheesecake in his mouth, then an embarrassed yet serious expression goes over his features. His face turns completely red, and I consider he might have something stuck in his throat, but he opens his mouth again. "I... u-um... have something important to tell you. I di-didn't get to tell you yesterday. A-and I figure I might not know when I'll get a chance like this a-again to explain."

"Sure. Shoot." I eye him curiously through my peripheral so I don't scare his words off, because he looks like he has half a mind to stand up and run off at high speed.

He presses his gloved pointer fingers together and keeps poking them against each other, trying- from what I can assume- to coax his words out. "We-well... I don't want to sound.... like I don't l-l-like you, but I j-just don't think I can have a- uh- serious re-relationship with you compared... t-t-to Ma- other people. B-b-but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be.... um... open to having one."

My eyes widen a bit, surprised that he actually said something like that to me so suddenly. I assess my feelings for him compared to everyone else, and blush when I realize that Hoodie was talking about how Masky feels about me. He must feel put off by how Masky has been acting around me since I got here. I think back to when we met, to what he has been through with me, to our fight, then to our make up conversation last night, then to how he understood exactly what I felt earlier this morning when he saw the guy I needed to kill. I realize that Masky was pretty much always there for me, and... I seem to have a pretty serious crush on him. I think maybe he might have one on me, but there's a shitty little voice in the back of my head saying "pffft no, of course he wouldn't." Before I can even think of what to say back, Hoodie is talking again; worried by my lack of speech.

"Y-y-you're just... really cool.... and I think I mistook... the ways I like you for... romance instead of.... friendship- if that... makes sense. I don't have m-many friends to compare to.... so I-I-I'm sorry."

I snap out of it and hurriedly say something as a look of pure worry and sadness goes over his expression, and he looks almost like he might curl up in a ball under the table. "Hoodie you don't have to apologize, we're perfectly fine! I... well, I would love to have a friendship with you. I understand where you're coming from and you don't have to worry."

"G-great-"

"But I'll only accept your apology on one condition."

He gives me a concerned look as my expression turns serious.

"W-what is it?" He leans a bit away from me and looks like he might be prepared to run again. He seems utterly confused when I place a hand on his shoulder and reassuringly grin.

"Promise me you won't hold onto any awkward feelings between us, okay? It'll ruin what could be an awesome friendship."

He looks incredibly relieved as he slumps back down in his seat. "I promise." I laugh as it sounds like he just dodged a life-threatening situation. I hand him the fork again, and he hesitates for only a second before grinning and devouring the rest.

"You know... I don't think I expected to get friend zoned that quick though." I wipe a fake tear from my eye as he starts to get up. He chuckles under his breath and lightly places the plate and fork into a dishwasher built into the counter.

"It's probably because of how incredibly spiteful you are." I look up from lazily picking at my nails to see EJ tiredly leaning against the opposite doorway.

"At least I actually have people who would get the chance to friend zone me, Jack."

"There. You see Hoodie? Spiteful." He playfully jabs a finger through the air at me. "Aiming to kill every time."

"She's never been mean to me." Hoodie defends, closing the dishwasher and starting its wash cycle. Jack rolls his head in what I can only assume is an imitation of rolling his eyes, then walks over to the table I'm at just as Hoodie retakes his place. "Oh yeah, I heard you were telling Jeff what to do earlier." Hoodie turns to me with amusement sparking in his eyes, and EJ turns to listen to me.

"Long story short, it was Slender's punishment for him telling me I have to kill people." I humorlessly laugh and scratch behind my ear as his expression turns sour. "But get this-" I dramatically wave my hands in the air, "he apologized to me."

I scoff as Hoodie looks at EJ a bit skeptically, but he reaffirms it by nodding his head, his expression basically saying "true story bro."

"Fuck you guys."

All three of us jolt in surprise as Jeff peeks through the door EJ came out of. "What the hell," I mutter. "Why do you guys just insist on sneaking up on people around here all the fucking time? You practically appear out of thin air." I snap my fingers for emphasis then try to focus on calming my heart down.

"Habit." Hoodie mumbles through his fingers as he tiredly lays his head in his right palm, propping his elbow up on the table.

Jeff sidles up to us and drags out a chair, causing it to screech against the floor. He then slumps down on it and hooks his elbows over the back of the chair, lazily crossing his legs.

"Well, I guess all we need is Masky now." I deadpan and pointedly turn to look at the door to the living room, expecting him to just waltz right on in. When nobody comes through, Hoodie takes his head off of his hand and breaks the silence.

"Do you need him?"

"Well-" I start.

"Yeah, but probably not in the way you're thinking, Hoodie." Jeff wiggles his eyebrows, pulling a dark glare from me as the rest snicker.

"Yeah I do, and NOT in the way you're thinking, Jeff. I have a couple of things I need to tell all of you, I guess."

"Ooh, are we doing dirty confessions?"

"Shut the fuck up, Jeff. No one likes you." EJ playfully cuts in, a shit-eating grin stretching across his lips that rivals Jeff's, although it's clear to me that he's looking out for me.

"This is unwarranted abuse." He pouts. I roll my eyes and continue my conversation with Hoodie as Jeff and EJ kick each other under the table like petulant children.

"I need some advice from all of you. I need to explain why first, and I would rather back him up into a corner so he won't have the chance of yelling or stomping away like he would if I just told him one on one. But beyond that, I would hate to explain it over and over again."

"He does tend to get too worked up over things. I can call him. He's taking his shift monitoring the border outside with Clockwork."

I nod in thanks and turn back to EJ and Jeff as they start shaking the table with poorly aimed kicks. "Jeff, one more kick and your knives are mine. EJ, one more kick and I will dump out all of your disgusting kidney jars." Both immediately cease their game of violent footsie and pull their legs back so fast, their chairs tip backwards slightly.

I hear Hoodie talking to Masky over the phone in the background as EJ and I quietly discuss a couple of things while Jeff teeters on his chair legs to cure his almost never-ending boredom.

"Why do you need all of us here? I thought I heard you say something about advice, but Jeff stomped on my foot."

"Slender said I should ask you guys for advice- something about being new to this and how he didn't want me to be caught off guard."

EJ gives me an understanding nod, then turns away from me and places a hand on his chin in thought. I leave him alone for now and decide to wait as Hoodie gives me a slight nod to let me know Masky's on his way.

Only a couple of minutes pass before he comes through the door. We all turn to greet him, but he stops in the doorway with a slightly confused and hesitant expression.

"Is this some sort of intervention? If it is, I'm out."

"No, I've got something to tell all of you, and I trust you'll wanna hear it."

He assesses the situation again with wary eyes then sighs and takes a seat between EJ and Jeff and sets his mask on the table with calculating eyes as he tries to figure out the situation. Jeff looks like a little kid waking up on Christmas morning to a truckload of presents; he's bouncing in his seat, and he has this sort of glimmer in his otherwise bloodshot eyes.

I glance over to EJ for a second, who gives me an encouraging grin that finally spurs my mouth to start moving. "Now before I say anything and someone," I pointedly look at Masky, "wants to argue with me, I'm telling you guys that I'm going whether you like it or not." Hoodie, Masky, and Jeff quirk their brows in confusion but I press on. "Slenderman is sending me to the Liechtenstein safe house because they are being threatened by a Samarin, and he wants me to bring them here to protect them. He can't go because he doesn't want to leave the house unguarded, plus he's too weak, and I'm the only one left with all of my abilities." I try to rush my words out as fast as possible so I don't get interrupted, but surprisingly, only silence follows the tail end of my sentence.

I silently survey their expressions for a second along with EJ, mentally preparing myself for anything they might say. I decide to continue, warily eyeing all of them as they seem to continue trying to process what I'm saying.

"I... um wanted to tell you guys because I need good advice because I'm new to this."

"Why the fuck can't you bring one of us with you?" Masky finally pipes up, anger flashing over his features.

"You'd get in her way. Be practical Masky." EJ pitches.

"But what about his brothers?" Hoodie pipes up.

"You know that Slender would be too weak to hold up the defenses here and store up power for their safe house too. He barely has enough to share between them without blacking out. And on top of that, if it isn't working correctly there like it isn't here, they need to be there in case something happens." EJ interjects again.

I look at Jeff, expecting a question or some sort of retort, but he seems to be okay with my decision. I tilt my head a little, silently curious over what he's thinking as he looks at EJ, but jump a little when he meets my gaze.

He catches onto my slight confusion, and goes to explain. "If you've made your mind up, there's nothing I can do to stop you. All I can do is give you the advice you want."

I nod appreciatively and turn to Hoodie. He looks conflicted, but nods, agreeing with Jeff. I turn to Masky, who looks torn between being furious and incredibly concerned. As the rest of us turn to him, he looks pretty cornered, just like EJ did when Slender and I kept shooting down his excuses for me not going.

"Masky, you know she's going to go. I already tried reasoning with her and she won." His look gets worse, then he finally huffs and dramatically throws his hands up in surrender.

"Fine. I give."

I give him his own appreciative look, then continue on. "Now that we have all of this out of the way, what advice would you have to give me?"

"Where is that safe house again- forest or out in the open?"

"Obviously the forest, Hoodie. Don't be a dumbass."

"Jeez Masky, chill out. I'll be driving there, so it's close to a road."

"Well, before you get out of the car, make sure to look for any telltale signs of foul play. Any scent of blood or toppled trees, or even the smell of fire, and you get out of there." EJ adds.

"I know that." I deadpan. EJ shrugs his shoulders.

"Well, he's right. You can't always rely on your eyes with a Samarin. Do we know their abilities?" Jeff asks.

"No."

"So okay, we have a forest area, secluded in the mountains- I'm assuming, and how many CP's do we need to get?"

"Seven."

"They should know how to stay quiet in the forest. Walk heel to toe at a steady pace, and try to take as long of a stride as you can. If there are any leaf covered areas, walk on your toes and look for the wettest leaves as possible. If it seems impossible, you may try to see if you can climb from tree to tree. This way you won't be seen as easily, and you won't make as much noise. But try to stay in a line when you're coming back, and keep track of each other."

"Yeah, Samarins have pretty keen noses too, so you would be safer in the trees so you don't leave as much of a scent behind for them to follow. No perfumes or scented products just to be safe. You may want to tie your hair back so the smell it has won't carry on the wind."

"Wear camouflage in the daylight, it'll seem incredibly stupid, but trust me, it'll work. If it's night, obviously wear all black."

"What if something happens?" I ask.

"If you're making your way there or you are at the house and the Samarin sees you, run back to the car and get out of there. Don't worry about noise, they will already be closely tracking you. If you are leaving, you should have everyone grab an air horn or some loud sound maker. This way, if someone gets attacked, they can sound that alarm and send the rest of you off running towards the car."

"What if she gets captured? I know we don't want to think about it, but it's probable."

Everyone stops talking for a second, thinking about the possibilities before pitching in. They all start at the same time for a second, but then go in a circle around me.

"Well obviously have a backup plan. Take your knife and keep it strapped to your wrist. This way you can easily access it and flip it open." Masky starts.

"Oooh she has a knife? I would say attack as hard as you can to try and get away while keeping your sense of direction if they try to hold you down. Oh, if you're car has been wrecked, just run and keep running."

"Yeah, Jeff's right you should always know where the next town is and the fastest or safest route to take there. Keep all of your other options open in your mind, and make many backup plans."

"I'm going to go off of the easily accessible weapons and backup plans. If you get captured, they might take your knife. The best backup plan is to keep hidden survival items in a place where they won't notice them or take them from you. I think I have some hollow-heeled hiking boots in my closet somewhere."

"Oh that's right, I've seen you wear those before EJ. I have a multi-tool small enough to fit in them. Oh and take matches. You'll never know when you need them to start a fire. But you have to leave them loose outside of the box. If you get caught, there will be no way in hell you can get a match out with your hands behind your back." Jeff comments.

"But if she was still tied then she couldn't get away from the fire, idiot. I'd suggest putting a razor blade in your waistband, that way you can cut your way out."

Once Masky finishes, I look around to everyone. "Anything else?"

"Um... if there is any way you can distract the Samarin if you get caught, do it. You will probably have time to catch onto the things that anger them or upset them. They aren't that good at hiding what angers them because of how revenge-set they usually are."

"What happens if they just go straight for the kill?"

All of them snap their heads towards me, one word ringing through the room as they all say it at the same time. "Run." The dread and seriousness in their voices making me realize the gravity of how badly everything could be if something goes wrong. The dire looks on their faces lighten up when they notice that I've frozen in my seat with a haunted look on my features.

EJ hurries to pat me on the shoulder and say something. "The Creepypastas at that safe house should be prepared and cooperative. Slender even said that they noticed the Samarin didn't seem to have much power. Compared with how powerful you are right now, everything will be fine. Keep a clear mind, and everything will be fine. You seem to have your head in the right place."

I relax along with the rest of the guys. EJ is the one who won't be afraid to tell you exactly what's what, and with him supporting me and making light of the situation, we know that we're just overreacting.

"Yeah... like I said to EJ earlier, I've learned how to know when to be aware, how protect myself, protect others, and to know when to run. I promise I won't throw myself into a situation that is too dangerous. I'll be fine." I put on a brave face, but in my mind I'm not too sure. Like Slenderman said before- it might be a planned attack on the Creepypastas. Whatever is causing them to lose their abilities may have something to do with the Samarin.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I trust her to do it. Seems easy enough." Jeff shrugs and starts tilting his chair back again. I grin, silently thanking him.

"Yeah, she's pretty well prepared, there's nothing to worry about." Hoodie pitches in with a light, playful shove against my arm. I let a small laugh slip through, which seems to bring the mood back up from the intense seriousness that it was dragged down to.

"Well, I better get those boots. Anybody got the camo?" EJ pushes himself up out of his seat and starts towards the door.

"I've got the camo. Now who has air horns?" Masky asks as we look around.

"I have some." Hoodie offers. When we give him weird expressions, he murmurs "don't even ask" before getting back up and moving past EJ who still stands in the doorway. He immediately follows behind him into the living room, then lets the door swing shut.

"I'll get the matches and the multi-tool." Jeff lets his chair legs fall back to the floor with a clack, then moves to get up and go through the opposite door. He turns around and winks at me before shutting the door again, leaving Masky and I alone in a slightly awkward silence.

"A-ah, well you should go ahead a-and get that camouflage." I stutter when he keeps looking at me. I move to get up from my chair just as he does, and go to move towards the door.

"Will you promise me you'll stay safe?"

I stop where I am, the tone of his voice surprising me a little. He seems to be trying to sound caring, but he's still sounds lightly frustrated over his feelings. I turn to move towards the door, my mouth cracked open slightly to answer the question as I take a couple of steps, but I stop moving as he lightly grabs my fingertips.

As my body twists to meet him, my chest almost brushes against his. He keeps lightly holding onto my fingertips, and I can feel a warmth spread across my cheeks as he looks down at me, worry dancing through his brown irises.

"Of course I will, Masky. I promise." I murmur, admittedly entranced into somewhat of a paralysis.

I move my eyes to his lips for a second, because my brain tells me that it's the only other place it will allow me to look besides his eyes, and I'm starting to get embarrassed. I only notice that we've been leaning towards each other when my nose brushes his, but my eyes close in comfort as he simultaneously brings his hand up to rest in the crook of my neck, and lightly presses his lips to mine.

It's soft, and his lips are slightly chapped, but it still feels incredibly comfortable to have the warmth there as his breath ghosts over my upper lip. My eyes lazily shut, and my hand moves up to rest on the peak of his shoulder, thumbing his collar bone as his fingertips grace over the wispy hairs that have fallen over my shoulder.

We lightly pull away, and I meet his eyes again, letting out a soft breath with a light smile. He returns my grin and squeezes my fingers lightly before begrudgingly taking a step towards the door. I stay where I am and let our fingers drift apart. He makes it to the door and twists the knob before turning his head to face me again.

"I trust you."

I nod, and he slips out of the door and back into the living room, leaving me to my thoughts.


	18. Preparation and Recuperation

"Well, I think that's a good enough pile." Jeff dusts his hands off on each other in front of him and looks down at the pile of things gathered on the table near the living room door. I bemusedly nod, watching as EJ gives Slenderman a stern talk about why he needs to be laying down instead of running around trying to help them.

"Tell us what you want packed and we'll pack it, but you are not getting off of this couch again until morning comes."

"I severely disagree, Mister Nyras. I would like to aid Miss (L/n) in protecting the others in Liechtenstein."

"If you keep working, you won't be able to protect  _any_  of us. Now lay down and let us take care of it."

Slender tries and fails to persuade Jack into letting him up, and finally gives in, telling Jack that he needs to have BEN hack a car for me and have it waiting at a location in a sparsely populated area near the edge of the mountain range where he can easily teleport me without me being seen, then have him upload his "GPS map thing" for me. He then says that I need to take a small backpack for a few things that he lists off, and EJ immediately tells him that they've already been laid out by the other guys. I almost die laughing when Slender mutters a small "o-oh."

I pick up the pair of boots EJ had set on the floor near the table and try them on. I lace them up tightly, and realize that they barely slip at all on my feet.

"EJ has women's feet." I laugh.

"I heard that and I do not, you're probably just a descendant of Bigfoot."

"And you're probably a descendant of a donkey 'cause you're such an ass."

He sticks out his tongue towards me and starts to walk up the stairs to find BEN. I mess around with the boots a little more and start sticking matchsticks, a couple of extra razor blades and Jeff's multi-tool into my dominant foot's boot heel.

I stick more into the other boot heel just to be sure, then unlace them and set them back on the floor. I lazily kick my legs as I think about my kiss with Masky. It wasn't over the top or fairytalesque or anything, but I don't find myself caring too much. He kissed me, and I kissed him, and that is that. But as much as I say that, something about it was special. I mean, sure, I've been kissed before, but none of them felt like  _that;_ that being the feeling that I was finally understanding someone wholeheartedly, and that we both wanted exactly the same thing in that moment, and privately shared that with one other. It was just... you know.... kinda awesome.

"What are you blushing and smiling at your feet for? Got some kinda fetish for them or something?" Jeff interjects through my thoughts.

"Jeff, shut up." I grumble and hop off of the table.

He smirks. "I just thought you wanted to know that you're stuff's all packed. It's pretty late too, so you can  _go to sleep_  now." He creepily grins, but I deadpan.

"If you're trying to make a joke, I don't get it. But thanks for packing that anyways. Oh, did you add the rope?"

"Got it." He sighs disappointed by my lack of understanding for his joke.

I leaf through all of the things in the bag to see where everything is, then go ahead and zip up the backpack. EJ makes his way back down the stairs in front of us with BEN in tow, already apparently setting up my GPS route and sending it to the car through his phone.

"No EJ, I did not hack someone else's car, and they will not call the cops to look for it. Who do you think I am?"

"An idiot."

"I'll hack your phone camera and take photos of you naked, then I'll post them up all around the house."

"Good, I'll look sexy as hell." He jokes, seemingly in more of a lighthearted and playful mood compared to his usual shy, complacence. I snort at his comment, and grin. "Don't you say  _anything,_  (Y/n)." He snaps.

I pretend to zip my lips shut and shrug my shoulders, feeling more like relaxing than playing around right now. With everything that has happened and the thought of going to Liechtenstein tomorrow, I feel like heading straight to bed- but of course I still don't want to sleep.

"Aaaaand done. I got you a swag ass Acura MDX from a dealership about thirty miles away, and the car is parked behind what looks to be an abandoned store. You know those places where the big food trucks come and drop off the cargo that look like concrete ditches? It's in one of those types of things. Nobody's gonna find it. And I disabled the trackers even if they try. But holy shit you should've seen those guy's faces when the car just  _rolled_  out of the dealer's lot." He laughs but the rest of us don't, which causes him to trail off a little and put his hand behind his head. "I also put a contact for the landline here, in case something goes wrong, but like I said, I had to disable tracking because unfortunately it only has a universal tracker. I can't just change it's makeup."

"Well thanks BEN, I appreciate it."

"Anything for you, babe." A vein shows on my forehead as my smile turns to a grimace. "I'm sure you'll get along great after you've had  _my_ help, babe."

"Call me babe again and I'll connect your intestines to your throat so you'll eat shit for the rest of your life." I keep my smile on my face and keep my words sounding friendly, which seems to make him back up a couple of steps in fright.

"She's not kidding BEN. I saw her eyeing up my diagram of the human body the other day, she'll do it." EJ tells a little white lie, but it turns out to be worth it.

BEN looks terrified for a second then plays it off. "W-well I've got some uh important things to do, so uh, good luck tomorrow, ba- (Y/n)." He practically runs back up the stairs.

We laugh for a minute as soon as he's out of sight, then get back to work. EJ grabs a couple of slices of pizza for us from the kitchen as we set about checking off lists and running through situations again.

Around the time it was 8 in the evening, Creepypastas started trickling into the kitchen to scrounge up some food. Only when someone came out with what seemed to be a soft pretzel, nacho cheese, and ketchup sandwich did another Creepypasta cave and call a pizza place, then walk to get about ten boxes. He came back with only nine because he "had to sacrifice the sausage to get the Rake off of his ass." Masky then had to explain to me that the dude that chased us a couple of days ago was called the Rake. But needless to say, the guy who picked up all of those pizzas was treated as a war hero when he got back.

"Alright, that's the last of it." EJ sighs out. Jeff had already gotten bored about halfway through and walked off.

"Great now I can-" I pause and force my yawn back, but he notices my apprehension.

"You will have to sleep tonight, you know that."

"I... I should be fine witho-"

"No, you're already getting slow and your eyes are having trouble focusing at times. You need to sleep."

"But Jack what if she comes back and actually manages to kill me this time?"

"She won't. I can give you something to keep your mind in a dreamless sleep. And you could sleep in a room with any of us, we could keep an eye on you and wake you up if anything goes wrong."

I think about which room I should sleep in and weigh my options. If the drugs don't work, EJ will be the one to clean me up anyway, so the choice seems the most logical. When I think about going to Masky's room, I seriously doubt I would be able to get any sleep regardless of how many drugs I take. "Would you mind if I slept down in your room? I don't think sleeping in Masky and Hoodie's room would be such a great idea."

"Why not?"

I can't help but blush, remembering everything that happened in their room.

"Why not, (Y/n)? Don't you wanna cuddle up with Masky and wake up to him in the morning?" He jokingly snuggles into my shoulder, which leads me to shove my hand into his face and push him away.

"You're right, I should go sleep with  _him_. If I woke up and saw  _your_ face in the morning I'd probably die."

"Ow, oww, okay fine." I let up on the pushing, and he comes back up to my shoulder like a rubber band.

"What's with you? You're acting kinda weird. You're usually so calm and composed and  _not_  all playful and shit." I point out.

"I'm just tired, 's all. I did stay up for a while waiting for you last night in case you were hurt. I'm the only one here that could patch you up."

"Aww you're so sweet." I pinch his cheek and wiggle it a little, causing him to growl at me and snap his razor sharp jaws together with a clack that makes me jerk my hand back with a squeak.

"Alright, go grab your stuff. It's eleven and we're going to get you up around six to get ready, then have you leave at seven. That way you can get to the safe house at around eight and make good time."

I groan at the time, but push myself off of the table regardless. He follows quickly behind. "We can figure out sleeping arrangements when you get down there." He pats my shoulder as I drag myself towards the stairs. I left my bag in that guest bathroom upstairs I think. I don't remember lugging it anywhere else today, anyways.

I trudge up the steps and start walking down the hallway when I see the door to Masky and Hoodie's room open. Masky steps out into the hallway and grins back into the doorway before shutting it behind him.

He turns and meets my stare, his grin still on his face as he looks at me. I continue walking towards him until I stop in front of him.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He lightly asks, happiness evident in his tone, which is a little weird.

"Getting my bag. Walk and talk?"

He nods and starts walking next to me down the hallway. "You heading in for the night? I know EJ was going to make you sleep from how he was talking earlier."

"Yeah he's going to drug me into somewhat of a dreamless sleep. I'm actually going to sleep in the basement tonight in case I wake up with any random bruises or broken bones that need to be treated."

He gives me a bit of a disapproving look mixed with light jealousy.

"You're getting drugged up and falling asleep in some guy's cellar?"

"Please, Masky. We both know EJ would never do anything. Plus he's not the 'mister steal yo' girl' type anyway."

"So you're  _my girl_?"

"You guys just love to latch on to one little bit of what I say and twist it outta context, don't you?" I roll my eyes as I push open the door to the dark bathroom and flick on the light, walking over to my bag with a light grin.

I really thought it was going to be a lot more awkward after we kissed, but everything seems more normal and actually a whole lot  _less_ tense. I twist around as I see him walk in behind me, and lean back against the sink.

"Sorry, was that a yes or a no?" He jokes as he walks a little closer.

"You don't own me, but I'd be willing to share a little bit of me with you. Just depends on how much you deserve." I give him a sly grin and tilt my head up a little, testing the waters and drawing my lines in the sand.

He places his hands on the sink behind me but stays where he is, our legs the only things touching as they brush against each other. "And how do you determine how much I deserve?"

"By how much of yourself you share with me." I wrap my two pointer fingers around the strings of his hoodie and pull him a little closer, directly locking eyes with him again as I look up through my lashes. "So, share a kiss with me?" I cock my head, tilting my chin toward him a little more.

He moves forward and presses his lips to mine again, locking our hips together as our eyes shut. I push myself up and back onto the counter so I can reach him more, then lightly wrap my legs around his thighs. He brings one of his hands up from the counter to lightly grip the flesh of my side, his palm resting on the crook of my hip. He takes a step forward and gently pulls me forward so our hips are locked again, and tilts his head to the side to deepen the kiss, which quickly turns into a few more, which I greedily reciprocate.

My fingers keep gripping the strings of his hoodie and pulling in little intervals as we take small breaths between kisses, just like a cat kneading their claws into a soft blanket. Only when our little breaths aren't enough to satisfy our lungs do we pull apart.

My fingers unravel from the black strings of his hoodie as I unconsciously run the tip of my tongue over my slightly swollen lips. He gives me a smirk. "Enough sharing for today?" He snickers.

"An adequate amount." I wink as I hop back off of the sink and hoist my gym bag over my shoulder, walking out of the door. He trails after me and switches the light off as we leave with an amused grin.

"So, are you going to see me off tomorrow? I'm still not sure about the whole teleportation thing."

"Sure. It's not that bad, he's done it for Hoodie and I before. It's just like... um... going through a vacuum cleaner for a second."

"Nice analogy."

He shrugs his shoulders. "So what are your sleeping arrangements with EJ again?"

"Masky, quit worrying about it."

"I can't help it! How can I when you're about the coolest girl around here? I'm sure you could get Slenderman to go for you if you tried!" I think about the notion of that for a second before laughing out loud, taking raspy breaths where I gasp out "gentlemanly tentacle hentai." He lets out a string of surprised laughter that mingles with mine, then we both calm down as we start descending the stairs together.

"Well, thank you. But seriously, how are you not convinced after all that's happened today?"

He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair nervously. "I'm just worried. You remember what I said last night."

I take a second to remember, then understandingly nod as I remind myself of his secret caring side and his need to know I'm safe. He seems to be the type of guy that needs to constantly be reminded that there's more than just murder and anger and sadness in the world. I remember back to when me first met, back to the dull greyness that seemed to surround his entire being, like almost every bit of light had been sapped straight out of him.

We reach the bottom of the stairs, where Slenderman finally seems to have fallen asleep with a soft-looking, pink, crocheted blanket draped over his figure. I give Masky a look that contains most of my amusement because I don't want to laugh and wake him up.

"Must be Sally's work." He whispers, pointing to a little girl that is peeking out from under the very edge of the blanket near where Slender's knees bend over the edge of the couch. She is curled up against the very back right corner, and seems to be sound asleep. I wonder how I never saw her before with the lack of children in this house.

"Well, I'm going to head off to get my mask, are you going straight down to Jack's?"

"Yeah, I think so." I walk towards him a little bit and set my hand on his shoulder for balance as I raise on my tiptoes and give him a chaste kiss on his cheek before whispering, "Good night, Masky," into his ear.

He grins and watches me silently move across the floorboards to get to the door to EJ's room. I wave- which he returns- before walking down the hallway and then turning to walk down the flight of stairs leading to EJ's room.

"Well it took you long enough." He taps his shoe against the floor like an impatient mother.

"I got to talking to someone." It's not a lie, per say.

"To who?"

"Who do you think, mom?" I playfully grin as I walk up to him, shouldering my bag back into my hand.

"Don't you sass me, I'll ground your ass."

"Sure you will, Jacky. Where do you want me to sleep?" I walk over to his bed and set my bag next to his nightstand before sitting on his bed.

He takes his hands off of his hips and turns around. "I can sleep just about anywhere, you can put me on the floor. It's all up to you."

"You said you were going to keep an eye on me in case she comes to visit me?"

"Yeah, I can."

"You'll have to sleep next to me for that, I guess."

"Yeah, you comfortable with that?" He moves over to sit on the bed next to me.

"Yeah, I feel fine. Like sleeping with a sibling."

"Same for me. If I had siblings, that is."

"Okay, I'll change into pajama pants you go ahead and get my drugs." He moves off of the bed and searches through a couple of cabinets, turning his back to me. I quickly change and get into the covers, and in no time he's back at the bed with a small cup with two pills in it and a glass of water.

"I set my alarm for six. I'm not snoozing it twice, so get up or I'll shove you out of bed." I grin and take the pills from him, downing the water with them.

"Sounds like a plan then. Goodnight." I turn over towards the middle of the bed and almost immediately close my eyes with how incredibly heavy they seem to be. I let a relaxed sigh slip through my nose as all I see is darkness behind my eyelids, not my little sister. I hear EJ turn off the light and crawl under the covers on the other side.

"Goodnight, (Y/n)." He whispers just before I let sleep drag my body back in to soothing darkness.

 

**Jack's POV**

**Quick A/N: So, whatever for writing website you're reading this on- it might be italicized or inside 'these' because the italics are screwy between them all- this is a dream/memory sequence just to be clear.**

 

' _A mirthless sigh escapes my lips as my eyelids open to the familiar forest canopy stretching out above me. I cock my head as I lay with my fingers knotted through my hair, resting back on my hands and using them as a pillow._

_"What's got you in such a twist?"_

_I tilt my head over to look at her through the leaves. Her curious smile catches a sliver of light trickling through the leaves, and I unconsciously match her grin as she hops down from her branch. She stalks over to me and slumps down on the blanket beside me before letting worry wash over her bright features._

_"You alright?"_

_"I'm fine, just trying to find a way to jog your memory. It's almost been a month since I brought you here and we've accomplished nothing on getting your memories back."_

_She sighs, rolling over to lay her head down on her arms as she folds them over my chest. She starts drawing little circles around on the soft skin above my collarbone, which seems to be her favorite pastime in the last few days._

_"You know ya don't have to, Jack. I could always make some new ones with ya." She looks up with bright eyes and finds my gaze, then pouts her lips out slightly in a cute expression, trying to cheer me up. Something in her just knows exactly what I'm feeling before I even know the depth of it myself._

_"I know, but I still feel like I should help you remember your past because it makes up who you are."_

_"But, what if I was a horrible person? What if my past made me into a person that could never love you?"_

_My breath hitches in my throat. I certainly would never want her to be that way. Imagining a life without her seems so dull and pointless- always going through the motions without any real purpose. But... I'm overreacting. We're overreacting. Nothing could just make her suddenly hate me._

_"I doubt that would ever happen. Whatever you were like, no matter your past, I'll always care for you."_

_She hums and quits drawing the circles on my skin. "I know, Jack. I'll always care for ya too, no matter what happens." She leans forward and places a light kiss on my bottom lip before popping back up into a sitting position._

_"Now come on, Casanova. I betcha can't climb this tree faster 'an me."_

_"I already know I can't."_

_She sticks her tongue out at me playfully. "Well you're no fun. How's about I give ya a kiss if you win?"_

_"But what if you win?"_

_"Then I'll kiss ya for tryin'."_

_I laugh lightly and finally give, pushing myself up to meet her gaze. "Then you're on." I playfully laugh as I snap up to my feet and get a head start._

_She looks slightly betrayed but still flies up the branches alongside me until we tie at the top._

_"So where's my kiss?"_

_"I lied."_

_My smile breaks for a second, a pang of recognition fades in. She lied to me. Had she been lying the whole time? My mind feels slightly muddled, and I don't know why I feel so badly hurt about a little kiss, but something tugs at me that I'm this torn up over something else._

_"I lied you'll have ta steal one from me." She winks and begins her descent back down the tree. I shake out my thoughts and follow after her._

_She would never lie to me and she would never leave me. I think the words over an over again. But in the end of it all, the same feeling that was bothering me before comes back with words to match._

_But she still betrayed me in the end.'_


	19. Der Schein Trügt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well my four years of taking German have paid off at least a little bit. AND PLEASE KNOW, the German to English translator on google is pretty shit, so if you translate some of the German in there and it doesn't make sense, that's why.
> 
> ALSO, obviously this is an early update, because I'll be gone this whole weekend camping again, and I won't have WiFi or data so I'll be out of contact until Monday. A new chapter should come up late in the afternoon again, so just be ready for it, and I hope that you like this one! :)

 

Warning: Slight gore

My eyes snap open at the piercing whine of an alarm beside my head. My heart rate subsides when I realize it's only Jack's alarm that he set for this morning instead of something like a fire alarm or a smoke alarm- which would worry me because I realize I would be trapped in this basement. I groggily grope around for the snooze button, then finally let my arm lazily fall over my face once I press it. I then lay there and think about how busy my day is going to be. I try and reassure myself that everything will be fine if I stick to my plan and remember my backup plans, and that everything should go smoothly. From what Slender managed to pick up, the Samarin should barely even be a problem, but he just wants to remove them from the situation just to be sure.

Though, from what he described, a Samarin can go from a caring and loving person to an incredibly dangerous enemy in the span of a couple milliseconds.

After a couple of minutes of silence, I make a confused look and open my eyes again. I was sure that Jack would have hounded me to get up by now. I turn over and lightly shove his shoulder, receiving a low growl and a light shove in return.

"I thought you were going to be the one yelling at me to get up this morning."

"I didn't take my own sleepiness into account." He grumbles into his pillow, his words slightly muffled by the fabric. He then lightly turns his head and peeks at me through one, half lidded eye socket. "Sleep well?"

I take a second to think back, and I don't remember any dreams at all, and I actually feel well rested for once. "Yeah, you?" I count to three in my head then force myself to sit up on the bed, letting the cool basement air send shivers all the way down my arms and numb my fingers.

"Not very." He rolls himself onto his side as I rest my back against the headboard.

"Sorry to hear that, EJ." I turn my head and say to him with a worried grin before shoving my feet out from under the covers and onto the floor. I think I see a flicker of something that looks like angry recognition as he sees my grin, but it quickly goes away. I make a slightly confused look as my smile slips off of my face once I see it. "Are you.. alright?"

He jumps slightly at my words and nods a little too quickly and vigorously before removing the covers from his legs and turning to face the wall. I shrug, crouch down on the rug, rifle through my bag for a tank top that I can wear under the camouflage jacket that Masky gave me, and then pick out a clean pair of ripped blue jeans. Jack changes his shirt by his closet and I change on the other side of the bed, then we both give the okay and turn back. I borrow some scentless antiperspirant deodorant from him, then braid my hair back and start moving up the stairs.

I walk through the sparsely lit hallway and living room to get to the kitchen, then heat up some leftover muffins and eat them for a quick breakfast. After I'm done, I head back into the living room to suit up.

Jack changes the cloths on Slenderman's head and pulls the blanket over Sally a little more before heading over to me. I double check our list of things and their places in my bag, then strap my knife to a band on my wrist and lace up my boots, checking to see if they're in working condition. We work in total silence, and in about ten minutes, I'm completely ready and running over the logistics with EJ one more time.

I look down at the small watch Jeff left with me and practice flipping open my switchblade absentmindedly. Masky and Hoodie descend the steps as I see that it is 6:48 AM and silently wave to them, which they return.

"All ready?" Masky whispers as I see Jeff drowsily drag himself through the side door leading to the living room. I nod as EJ comes back in with a large plastic water container and stuffs it into a side pocket in my bag.

I crack open the window on the porch and look up into the grey morning sky as I breathe in some fresh air. It's going to be a long morning, but I hope that I can get the seven CPs back here safe and sound. Masky walks over to me and leans against the wall next to the window, silently comforting me.

"Are you nervous?"

I lightly nod. There's no point in lying. "Yeah, but I think you're 10 times more nervous than me." A light grin plays on my lips, but the nervousness drags it down into a neutral frown again. I lean down into my palm as I rest my elbow on the windowsill, feeling the cool breeze dance over my eyelashes as I take in another breath.

"No, I know you'll do well. If EJ thinks so, I do too." I give him another light grin that stays this time, but fades a bit as I look down at the watch again. It's 6:57. Time to go.

I move away from the windowsill and tap my watch at EJ. He nods and moves over to Slenderman, then quietly waves me over after a couple of seconds in hushed whispers. I swing my bag over my back and make sure I have everything I need in its correct place before grabbing my car keys off of the table and moving. Jeff, Hoodie, and Masky stay where they are as their eyes follow me to the couch. Slenderman holds his hand out to me, and I take it as EJ gives me a light pat on the shoulder before moving back to the table. They all lightly wave, then I nod to Slender and he grips my hand tighter.

My eyes flutter closed as I feel cool air flowing over my skin from different angles and filling my ears with a loud wind. I gasp a little as goosebumps travel all down my spine and my skin pulls taught against my bones for a second to where it feels almost uncomfortable. Then suddenly, the air stops blowing over my skin and envelops me in a cool embrace.

I let my eyes open, and sounds of little birds fade in as they chirp around in a cluster of trees in front of me. I fail in concealing a gasp as my eyes travel up through the thick trees and into the sloping rocks of a lopsided mountain, splotched with bits of white at the very top mixed in with dirt. I have to pry my eyes away from the sight as another shiver runs down my spine from the cooler air of a mountain breeze blowing over me.

The car stands a few feet away from me, parked in somewhat of a makeshift ditch for a loaded truck of some sort that looks like it hasn't been used for years. I trudge over to the car and grin at the sleek, dark cherry color and the overall new and shiny look to it. I remember the car I had before all of this shit happened, and how great it felt to have bought such an expensive thing on my own and to know I worked hard for something I wanted. I woefully sigh, but hit the unlock button on my keys before opening the glossy door.

I inhale the new car smell before climbing in and situating myself in the cool seat, throwing my backpack into the passenger seat, and checking the back seat for any stowaways. I seriously doubt there would be any as I scan the seats and floor, but hey, you never know.

After a few seconds of searching, I shut the door and take a couple more calming breaths before pushing the ignition button and feeling the car hum to life. I grin. I didn't realize how much I missed driving. I let my seats warm up along with the heat in the vents then check the console for the extra set of keys BEN mentioned last minute that I should have laying out just in case. Sure enough, they are tucked into a little side pocket, so I pull them out and set them in the cup holder in front of me along with the keys I will keep with me at all times.

Finally ready, I go ahead and hit the start button for the GPS route on my monitor and put it in drive, making my way out of the abandoned back lot and up a dirt side road leading to a narrow paved road that will lead me through the mountains.

It seems like the cool, early autumn weather hasn't completely suffocated the prettiest of the vegetation in the area. Besides the usual trees surrounding the narrow road, there are tiny colorful wildflowers of all types dotting the grass on the sides of the crumbling, dull grey asphalt. Many damp leaves cake the road in layers where few cars have traveled over them, and they barely kick up into the breeze as I pass through them; being too heavily weighted down by morning dew.

The sun peeks through the overcast grey clouds obscuring the blue sky from my view and blanketing the jagged mountaintops around me. The light peeks through the leaves and blinds me every so often as I wind through patches where the edges of the road have fallen in mini dirt slides. Without the radio on, and my moderate driving pace, I can hear the wind blowing through the trees as I crack open my window slightly. I take in another breath of cool, fresh mountain air as the car exits the forest to wind along vast expanses of lush green farmland, boxed like quilt patches sewn into the earth.

"Destination approaching. Four miles ahead."

My heart stops for a second, then jolts back to life with slight panic. The drive was a good distraction for what I have to do, and I grapple for the reminders of what I need to keep handy in my mind. My eyes flick over to the blown out satellite map of the area where the road is and what surrounds it, and see the little blue destination marker set just outside of the small mountain village I'm approaching. The climb looks steep from where I will have to pull off of the road and hide the car in the trees.

The safe house peeks through the tree canopy, but it is disguised to look like another jutting ridge of rock from where it stands on the hill, and barely draws any attention to anyone who doesn't know where it is. I worry my bottom lip between my teeth as I slowly travel through the small village, where a couple of children bounce around and play with a tricolor puppy as they play in the overgrown grass of a field that seems to have rockier soil. The car catches a few stares that I feel my face heat up over. Maybe a brand new car wasn't the smartest choice on BEN's behalf, but then again, it was a pretty sweet ride all the way up here anyway. I exit the village and take the road leading back out of the farming valley and up into higher mountainous terrain.

I slow down and roll my window all the way down as I start using the low branched trees growing over the side of the road as cover for anyone trying to spot the car. As I pull fully off of the side of the road and into a spot just big enough to hold the car between the thick trees, I stop to survey the area.

There are no signs of anybody even moving through the forest as I turn off the ignition and gradually increase my hearing until I can hear the reassuring voices of a couple of people in the safe house moving around with backpacks as they talk about Slender having been able to contact them and tell them what's going on after resting overnight. I look at the clock, and see that it's 8:07- I'm doing good on time. I try to pick up any smell of blood, or detect perfumes or colognes besides the people in the safe house. When I notice a small abandoned tent gently flapping in the wind through the trees, it looks like someone was there recently, but packed up everything and left. When I concentrate my mind on the site, I can tell that they hiked off and down the side of the mountain to the village. I already know in my mind that it is the Samarin I'm desperately trying to avoid.

I breathe in, grab my pack and my keys, throw my camouflage coat on, check to see if everything is in order, then listen hard one last time, and hurriedly jog towards the safe house. The concentration on my senses breaks because of my caution over stepping loudly on the patches of forest floor covered in sticks and dry leaves, but I know that if I hurry, we could all make it out in time before the Samarin decides to come back.

A loud crunching fills my ears and makes me whip my head to look down at whatever I could have stepped on, but my feet rest on a patch of soft moss. The crunching sounds like a tree falling, and the sound of dirt sliding and crumbling along with the groaning of wood causes me to write it off. I move over the last bit of land and dance around a ridge of rocks, trying not to fall as I bear crawl up the loose dirt sides of the ledge and try not to slip. Once at the top, there is a weathered path through the dense trees where I can catch a glimpse of the bottom of the two story safe house from far away.

I let out a breath and take a couple more in with a brief moment of silence, but as I inhale, a familiar dark scent reaches my nose.

Blood.

I try to listen again, but I can't hear anything with my concentration being broken by panic, so I trudge forward through the trees. The path opens up into a small clearing that the trees lean in to almost shield the cleared patch of grass and wildflowers.

I almost laugh at first as I my eyes land on the house. It looks like someone decided to play "Jack and the Beanstalk" and thought it looked cool as home decor. The large vines cut cleanly through the house as if it was built around it, and the Kudzu vines reach up the sides of the house and mingle with the thick stalks weaving in and out of the house. The scent of blood reaches me again and makes me taste the ghost of iron in my mouth as panic sets in again. I run up to the house and knock, but shake my head and throw the door open regardless.

I see the vines again, but no people at first. I take a few cautious steps in, leaving the door open behind me for an escape if I need it. I run through the possibility that they might have seen me and mistook me as the Samarin, but I don't  _dare_  call out. I know my horror movies, and I sure as hell won't be leaving here alive if I do that.

My mind makes itself up. I smell blood, and I don't see or hear the people anymore, so shit- they're dead. I try one last time to pinpoint anyone moving or breathing, and as soon as I do, I just barely dodge a hammer hitting me in the back of the head.

"DU BLÖDE FOTZE! ZUR HÖLLE MIT DICH!" I instantly recognize the voice to be one of the Creepypastas I heard earlier, so I go to turn around and hold up my hands, but the momentum from me dodging makes me fall on my back. The wind gets knocked out of me for a second from the backpack hitting so hard and I prepare to get back up and fight while I flounder for air, but the guy quits swinging the hammer and lets it drop to the floorboards in shock.

The young man in front of me has tears streaming down his face and blood smudged down his front and all over his hands and arms as well as his straw blond hair. His eyes widen considerably and he takes a large shaky breath in as he realizes he almost killed me. He sinks to the floor next to me and pulls me up into his arms to where I can see the light gold flecks in his blue eyes, then continues to talk. "Du bist... oh! You are mit Slenderman, yes? Ich kenne little English. Ach, tut mir leid!"

He furiously apologizes in broken German and attempted English as he holds me up to where I can catch my breath. His eyes flit all over the place and his body shakes against mine as the blood smudges onto my skin and clothes.

"What... happened?" I force out in a whisper as the blond jumps at my voice. "The Samarin?"

"Yes, she... um she  _saw_ you at the road, ich denke. She... ah, she waited. Es war ein... trap. Ich war, um, up there, wann es... happened." He attempts to get his words into English and points upstairs. The guy suddenly pulls me up into a standing position just as I'm about to spring up. I stumble slightly and finally catch a glimpse of the room to the left of the main door through a now cracked door. There are bodies scattered everywhere, some with vines wrapped around their throats and foam at their mouth, and some with large thorny vines piercing their body. My eyes snap wide open.

A Samarin with control over  _plants._ Oh god we're fucked.

I reach over and grab his hand, which he jolts at before I go to run. I take a couple steps forward, but he refuses to move towards the door. I start to turn and face him as my words come out in a harsh whisper. "Come on, we need to get out of-"

I throw his hand away from me as his body shudders from shock. His head slowly and jerkily faces down to look at the mass of twisted vines unfurling from his chest cavity as they bloom out to further wrap around his shoulders and arms. He looks up at me again with bloodshot eyes as blood trickles out of his mouth, fresh tears streaming down his face as he holds out his hand for me again, but the vines drag him back at an ungodly speed. I manage to look away just in time, but a sob racks through my body as the sickening crunch of his bones resounds through the room before wet slaps of his blood hit the floor reach my ears.

Oh god. He reminded me of Hoodie.

The overwhelming need to get back home to everyone floods over me.

I keep my eyes closed until I turn, kicking my inhuman speed into gear as I feel a tiny vine start to wind around my ankle; snapping the tiny thing in two. More vines follow like writhing snakes as I stumble and frantically run back down towards my car.

Maybe. Maybe I can make it. If I can't, I'll run back to that village. If they attack the village, I'll keep running until I get to the place where Slenderman can teleport me back,  _without_ stopping. I-I'll stick to the mountainous terrain where there isn't as much plant life. I'll be _fine._ I  _won't break_ my promise to Masky.I'm  _strong._

My heart sinks as I reach the ledge I climbed up earlier. I don't have to look back to know that the vines are right behind me. I have to jump. The sides of the hill are too treacherous. It's so high, but I have to.

I try not to think about anything else besides landing safely without hurting my legs, running, and keeping  _on_ running until I get back  _home_.

I barely let myself take a breath as I throw myself over the edge. The vines snag at my clothes and grapple for my feet. My heart races, but a crazed smile works its way onto my lips as I hit the grassy ground and roll, landing perfectly on my feet and shifting into high speed as soon as I take another step.

I bolt towards the trees again, hoping I can make it. My heart races and pounds, edging me on further as adrenaline pumps through me so fast I feel like my veins might burst. My smile widens, the dread and fear fueling it as tears put an electric tang into my mouth- reminding me of what will happen if I stop.

I see it. I see the car. The cherry, glossy coating looks like a godsend to me now as I race down the slope, barely dodging snapping vines and branches reaching for me. The forest is trying it's damnedest to kill me.

My smile turns into a horrible grimace as a thick vine shoots across the path in front of me, and I go to slide under it only to see too late that it has tiny, almost invisible vines stretching above and below it that trap me on the path path like the bars of a jail cell. The vines in front of me lash out and grab my foot, causing me to scream in pain and frustration.

My dreadful, two-toned scream explodes from my mouth following the first, only to be suddenly cut off by the vines behind my head wrapping tightly around my neck and instantly pulling taut. I kick and scratch and claw, tears flowing out of my eyes as more vines reach up and snap between my teeth like a bridle, then jerk my head back to get me to look up behind me.

And there she is. The bitch who caused all of this mess.

Sage Veretta.


	20. Bound in Thorns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh I just got home and I'm slowly making my way to bed as I type this message. My feet are literally stretching towards the door. Imsotired. Hope you enjoy the chapter though! :)
> 
> Chapter 20 boyo

Her almost flirty grin stretches up to her blood-orange-colored eyes as she bends down and wraps my braid into her fist before moving her leg over my figure. My hands snap up to flip open my blade, and she goes to duck, but doesn't duck fast enough. I plunge the knife into the side of her throat, all the way up to the hilt.

My smile returns around the vines, even as she yanks at my hair in pain and her blood runs down her neck in rivers, but it immediately washes into a twitchy, confused grimace as she just laughs as if the knife in her neck were the most hilarious thing in the world.

Before I can twist it in further, she yanks the knife out of her neck and away from my hand, then stabs it into my shoulder, causing me to silently scream in agony as the vines tighten around my throat- my lungs screaming for more air than I can pull through my nose. My eyes grow bleary as I watch her hiss in pain, then quirk her lips into an annoyed grin as she wipes the blood away from her neck to show a simple red scratch, which heals back to smooth skin before my eyes.

"Neat little trick, huh (Y/n)?"

I reach up to try and throw her off of me but more vines snap around my wrists, throw them together over my face to tie them together, and then slam them to the ground above my head.

"You're one tough little bitch, but god you're _fun_. I can see exactly what the Cuntypastas are thinking chasing after you." She leans down and traces the shell of my ear with the tip of her tongue as she places her hand over my nose to block off my breathing. "But I think it's time for a little nap. You have a big night ahead of you.~"

My eyes go out of focus, and when I try to get them back to normal, the fatigue from it combined with my lack of oxygen makes my head loll to the side, and my vision fill with hissing black static.

And against my will, the darkness suffocates me into submission once again.

Time Skip (this early?)

My body jerks awake as I'm sent into a painful coughing fit that tears at my throat and lungs. The agony of the pain in my shoulder and neck is nauseatingly horrible, but after what feels like an hour, it subsides. Only then can I finally open my eyes.

My eyes lock immediately onto the design etched blade glinting in the light just inches away from my pupil. I try to reel back from the switchblade, only to realize that my chest is bound to my biceps as well as the back of a chair. I try to move my hands, but they are bound at the wrists as well. My ankles are also tied to the front two legs of the chair, and when I try to move them, it feels like little needles shove themselves into my skin.

As my mind reels through every escape plan the boys and I walked ourselves through while I nervously eye the blade, only then do I notice that there is a person behind it.

"Lovely li'l power, isn't it? Can't say it's all that painless, though." Sage coos as she twists the dripping red blade in front of my face before dropping it to her side and flipping it in. "Perfect for torture, however." Her sly grin returns.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I snarl, trying to make a distraction while I try to slide the razor blade out of the folded fabric of my waistband to cut the binds on my wrists. I don't know if she will leave before she tries to kill me- and I’m honestly lucky she hasn’t killed me yet- so I should try to distract and cut as fast as possible.

It could be my only chance for all I know right now.

"Come on, I know you're not that idiotic." She starts fiddling with the grip of my switchblade as she talks. "Our healing." She nonchalantly comments, as if it's the most obvious answer in the world.

"Our?" I remember the stab wound in her neck and shudder lightly. I then realize the thing that woke me up was the pain of my skin healing back after she pulled the knife out of my shoulder, joined by the healing of the bruises on my neck.

Sage scoffs and rolls her eyes, placing her hands on her hips and leaning down so our foreheads are touching. I want to spit at her, but I'm not going to try to anger her further when I'm still restrained. She searches my eyes, then deadpans when she ultimately finds confusion. "You... really are _that_ dense." She backs up again, and I find myself breathing again. I don't even know when I stopped.

"But before we get into all that explaining and shit, I've got a teensy little question for you. Might help you put the little pieces together, vefore we move on, sweety.~" She twists around walks back to a table to place my knife down, swinging her hips the whole way over. She peeks over her shoulder after she sets it down then opens her lips again. "What was your momma's maiden name?"

I furrow my brows at the question. She's just tried to kill me and the first thing she wants to know my mother's maiden name? I temporarily quit cutting for a second in my utter confusion, but regain my composure. I think that if she’s actually talking to me, she must have a reason to keep me alive and explain things. I muster up my confidence and tilt my head up at her, looking down my nose at her in disgust and defiance.

"First I want to know, was this a trap for me, or Slenderman?"

She flips the knife open again and sends it reeling in the air towards me with a lethal fire in her eyes. I narrowly miss it as it cuts the tip of my ear.

"Doesn’t matter! I ask the questions here, you little bitch. _What was her name?!_ "

I grit my teeth. I’ll just try to keep her occupied until I cut through these then. "Never told me."

Honestly I never heard it once for all of the years that I lived with my mother and father. Even if I did, I'd never tell the bitch anything about my family.

"Course she did, spill it kid." She paces back over to me.

"I. Don't. Remember." I space out my words with a harsh edge to my tone that I can't particularly help.

She bends down and grips my chin with rough hands; hard with callouses and fat with muscle at the bridge of skin between her thumb and forefinger. I grit my teeth and glare up at her; her eyes squinted slightly and skeptically studying me, filled to the brim with malice and hate. My body almost leans forward to get up into her face, and I feel my back leave the chair as I grate my teeth.

She suddenly pushes my face away, making my spine slam into the back of the chair with the harsh sound of wood splintering. I release a few hard breaths as my body lowers in an unconscious fighting position as my shadowed, slitted pupils glow up at her with pure, unadulterated hatred.

"Seems you really don' know." She lets out a breath and shakes her head disappointedly at me like a mother would at a child pointlessly acting up. "Ah, well, wha'd I expect from a woman like that- God love her. But she liked to _lie_ to you a lot, now din't she? Hid her whole past, an' even her _accent_ from you two, innocent little 'uns too- what _villainy_. And she dared call _me_ evil." She giggles like she is thinking of a fond memory before turning her snake-like rouge eyes down to me again. "I won' lie to ya, though. Did ya know your momma was from Tennessee?"

She cocks her head and gives me an attempt at a kind grin. When I don't say anything and continue to silently glare at her as I keep trying to cut through my vines, any bit of light in her eyes grows distant and fades into a dull, almost blank color.

She stands with her back straight up, then moves her leg faster than I can even see it- harshly connecting her foot with my cheekbone and nose. I sputter as her boot leaves my burning skin, feeling my chair teeter to the side. I scramble to throw my weight to my side to right it, and only calm down a little when all four legs touch the floor again.

" _Answer when I speak to ya_." She growls.

I spit blood at her feet and raise my head to her again. "I don't answer to you, you bucktoothed hillbilly bitch." A maniacal grin flares up on my face, and stays even though I feel thick vines snap up around my neck, their thorns piercing my skin. I feel afraid, but I keep grinning through it, which seems to anger her more, but I keep doing it until my eyes start watering from lack of blinking and the familiar feeling of flames licking over my lungs, yet mingling with liquid nitrogen at the same time returns to me.

Just as I think I'll pass out again, the vines pull away. She then throws her leg over my lap and straddles my thighs. I want to struggle and throw her off, but my lungs claw at my throat for air. She grins wolfishly at me, knowing my frustration. "You wanna know how _I_ know about 'cha momma?"

I glower at her as hard as possible, nostrils flaring, but she simply takes my chin in her hands again, the grin still on her face.

"She was _my_ big sis. It seems like _betrayal_ runs in the family, lovely li'l niece o' mine."

The liquid nitrogen that had pooled into my lungs now races through my bloodstream as she grins at me. I steadily begin to notice the similarities. Her face looks almost identical to my mothers, and her features mirror Lilly's. My eyes widen in absolute confusion and dread and she simply strokes my still throbbing cheek.

"Did you know... that unlike those Cuntypastas... being a Samarin is hereditary?" She caresses my jaw again, the shock paralyzing me still. She frowns, then removes herself from my lap and takes a few steps back. I stay quiet, words rushing through my mind so fast that I can barely form a single sound. "I guess you din't, since you seem ta love _pretending_ to be one of those li'l _freaks_ in that wretched house ya love so much. Not ta mention, ya don't even know 'bout the basics! You don' even _know_ how you heal, and you've been a Samarin ya whole fuckin' life!"

My body trembles in rage. How _dare_ she try to lie to me like this. It's not real. It's _not real._ I'm not the enemy, she is! God _dammit_ don't you _dare_ believe her (Y/n)! Remember the rules. If I were a Samarin, I couldn't stay in the main safe house for more than five minutes, and I know _that_ defense is still working! If I was one, I couldn't have found the house in the first place while dragging Masky and Hoodie behind me! If I was one... _if_ I was one...

_No. I'm not one._

Her frown deepens, but she continues on. "It was bound to happen again- the betrayal between Samarin blood. Your mother thought she could hide you two from it- not tellin' you your heritage and trying to marry a _human_ to get rid of the problem. But the gene will come through, whether you want it to or not, no matter how small it is, which she saw in the end in her disappointment of a daughter." She runs a finger under my chin, and I finally find myself enough to snap my head away from her touch to look to the side, moving only my eyes to glare back up at her. She "tsk"s and solemnly shakes her head for a second before quirking a grin out of the corner of my eye. "But I 'ave to thank her for you- _for_ her little half-blood _mutt_. Because you prove to be a right powerful weapon against the ‘Pastas- which _I_ find to be incredibly ironic. Helpin' to tear the ones ya love apart without even knowing it has to be the funniest joke e'r made." Dark laughter peals from her lips, her eyes bright again as my breathing stops again and I fall limp against my restraints. She lets out a soft, comfortable sigh as she stops laughing and turns to look at me again just before she leaves the room.

"Oh, and you know the _sweet_ thing 'bout this little safe house here, hon'? There's a right big forest surroundin' it, and my specialty is plants. So, 'fore you decide to cut those li'l vines the rest 'o way through and try ta escape, remember just how trapped ya really are."

My limp body grows even weaker at her words. No amount of preparing could have ever helped me escape from this.

Minutes pass in silence after she leaves, and my hand unconsciously saws away at my binds, simply moving up to cut the ones around my biceps once the first vines fall softly to the floor. Once my shoulders are free, I look down at my ankles to see that the incredibly thick vines that were around my neck are now doubled up around my ankles, creating an almost impossible mass to cut through with a tiny, half dull razor blade. My heart slows, and I let my body fall onto my thighs.

I absentmindedly check my pockets with nothing to do and make a mental list of everything she has taken from me: my keys are gone, my switchblade is gone, my phone is gone, and obviously my backpack is gone. My eyes hazily go about the room and take it in. There are vines poking in and out of the house at random places in the wood, and the ceiling is lightly caved inwards in the left rear part of the room where the floor ends in a gaping chasm below it. A small, half broken window shows me that I’m pretty high off of the ground, so it’s safe to guess that I’m probably in the attic.

I sigh and try to pull the vines away from my feet, but the thorns on them coat almost the entirety of the vine and pierce my shaking hands. I growl at them as my haze starts to subside and force through the pain, taking a hold of the vines on my right ankle and tugging hard. Suddenly, as I concentrate hard on getting the vines off and away from me, they start to shrivel in my hands. I stop pulling for a second to watch as it's glossy, green sheen turns into a dull brown and crinkles in my palms. It releases my ankle finally, then crackles into nothing more than dust that slips out of my hands.

I stare at it for a few seconds before curiously looking at the other vine. I carefully wrap my hands around the vines, trying my best to avoid the sharp thorns as I start to pull. I gently tug at them, willing them to come away from my skin, and sure enough, they start to deteriorate in my hands again. I instantly let go of them as soon as they do, and simply watch them- trying to force back the notion that I want them off for a minute to study them.

The decay of the vine stops to my surprise, and I wait for a few more seconds before taking them in my hands again and consciously willing them off. They turn to dust even faster this time, surrounding my ankle in a circle of dark brown particles before I can barely even blink.

I furrow my brows and sit back against the back of the chair again in a slight shock. "Alright, so let's just say for a minute that I actually am a Samarin like Sage claims." I murmur to myself as I drag my hands down my face in hopeless exhaustion. I close my eyes and let my thoughts take over me, with a bit more of a calm mind now that I'm painfully reminded that there's really nothing else I can do.

A pang of remembrance goes through me as my little sister pops into my mind's eye. If what Sage says is true, then maybe, just maybe, my sister has been taken over by evil... against her will? Because she's a Samarin? I scrunch my eyes shut, overwhelmed by all of this new information.

But still... if I go off of what EJ said about Samarins not being able to control whether they turn out evil or good, and that they can't be something in between no matter what, then it almost makes sense how my sister could possibly revoke every bit of love she had for me as her older sister and try to murder me in cold blood. I know my sister, and I know she had a dark side to her, but I also know that she could be very rational and aware of herself before all of this. She loved me- and if I take that in as a fact, and add on that my sister wouldn't betray me if she could help it, and also the fact that she actually had the power to touch or hurt me in my dreams, then I come upon the conclusion that she might just be a Samarin after all.

Then on top of that, if she is a Samarin, and the hereditary aspect of it is true, then I could very well be one myself. But if I’m one, it wouldn’t make any sense, because I’m not just good or just evil… yet?

Sage said I'm a "half-blood", so I'm apparently not a full fledged Samarin, but what things could I missing that... define a Samarin? Could that be a key difference?

I know that the two Samarins I have met have had one type of special ability: plants for Sage, and healing for Mira- and Lilly could possibly some type of dream walking if she really is one. Sage also said that I've been a powerful weapon against the Creepypastas without knowing it, so what type of ability could _I_ have? I know that I have my accelerated speed, enhanced eyesight, and my ability to feel other people's emotions- but they all seem too generic and they don't have very much of an effect on the CPs.

I let out a huff in frustration and throw myself out of my chair. I walk over to the window and lean against the windowpane as another mountain breeze blows leaks through the missing shards in the window and nestles into my skin. I bury my head into my arms as I cross them on the ledge, feeling as if I'm so incredibly close to grabbing the information I'm looking for, yet I'm still just out of reach. But some part of me thinks that I’m holding myself back from the information- a gut feeling that I’m shying away from it, whatever the information is. I huff and shake away my thoughts. I’m done thinking about it for now.

I hopelessly look out of the window and down the hill, where I can just barely see the road through the overgrown forest. I try enhancing my sight a little and see the dark cherry color of my car. I grit my teeth. I just want to go back home. New information or not, I'm _sick_ of having it thrown onto me and just being told to figure it out.

A glint of light on my wrist catches my eye and I realize that I actually still have my watch. I tilt it towards me and see that it is now 10 AM, so I must have been out for around two hours before she woke me up by taking that knife out. A flare of hope comes into the back of my mind that Slenderman might send somebody to come and save me if it gets late enough for them to realize that something has actually gone very wrong, but the hope is instantly shot down with dread. If they send someone after me, Sage will be able to overpower them instantly, and I know that she will kill them without even blinking an eye.

No. I can't let that happen.

My eyes trail back down to the car at the edge of the road, just barely peeking through the trees, and I remember BEN telling me that I can call the landline for the main safe house using the car. If I can make a big enough distraction, I might be able to get there and immediately be able to take off. If I speed off down the road and keep going straight, I know that the elevation will quickly increase and the mountains will start becoming more barren and rocky. If I get that far, I can take the road through the mountains, then if I head southwest from there until I can find another road on the internal GPS to take that will take me back to the teleportation spot on a safer route. Once I'm through those mountains, I can call the safe house and inform them of what has happened.

But I need to start back at base one, and figure out how to distract her _first._

 

**Jack's POV (Backwards Time Skip)**

 

I barely blink after (Y/n) waves goodbye and she's gone again. My hand limply falls to my side, and a worried look crosses my features without me realizing it. I only notice that Masky is staring at me after about a minute of her being gone. I turn and meet his gaze, but he jerks his head to look down at his hands as he nervously wrings them in his lap.

Jeff yawns beside me before patting my back and waving to both Masky and Hoodie. He then shuffles towards the door on the other side of the room, presumably going back to bed.

"Don't go... anywhere yet." All four of us jump as Slenderman speaks to us in a commanding tone. "Sally, dear, would you please return to your room?" I see her rub her sleepy eyes as he wraps her pink blanket around her small frame, lightly pushing her along. She pads past Jeff and through the door he was about to go through, leaving the room in a tense silence.

"What do you need?" I hesitantly break the silence.

He moves to where he is sitting up, and faces us with a serious expression that set us all on edge. "I need to speak with all of you about your ties with (Y/n)."

We collectively flinch at his accusatory tone. I notice that he skips calling her "Miss (L/n)" and his sentence ends with a dark look.

"What about her?" Masky defensively asks, his nervousness completely dissipated from his body. "You act like she's done something wrong."

Slender sighs and shakes his head. "I am sorry, I did not mean to offend anyone, but in a way... I think she has been working against us. Yet, all other aspects of her that I know say otherwise- so I would like to hear of any key information from you four in order to prove me wrong."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jeff knits his eyebrows together in frustration and takes a light step towards the couch.

I stare at him for a few seconds, then turn my head back to Slenderman, who seems like he is struggling to come up with words. Confusion takes hold of me, and I unconsciously clench my fists at either side of my thighs. What is he alluding to? Wherever this is going, I don't like it.

"I have reason... to believe that she is working with the Samarin." All four of us yell things at once, but are shushed as Slender stands up from the couch and faces us full on. "As I told you, I want you to prove me wrong. I do not want you to see me as the bad guy here, but only as someone trying to keep the safety of the many in mind."

" _Sorry_ , but I just don't see how in the ever-loving fuck you could even think that in the first place." Jeff snarls from his place in the corner.

"I agree. I think if she were in league with Samarin, I think I would be the first person to notice." I unintentionally sneer as I back up Jeff.

"She's been nothing but kind to all of us since even before she came here, and I _know_ she isn't faking it." Hoodie says.

All four of us wait for a couple of seconds in a strained, hostile silence for Masky to put his two cents in, but it doesn't come. I turn to stare at him in shock, knowing that he should be the first one of us to yell and scream to defend her, but he stays uncharacteristically silent. I guess he might be the second person to revoke all trust he has in someone in order to figure out if they should be trusted or not- just because he's been betrayed so many times before by people he cared about- but he seems to be having quite a bit of trouble with it this time. I feel slightly ashamed at myself. I should be the one calmly looking at things, but the fact that someone is accusing (Y/n) of being in any way shape or form in association with another Sage Veretta is _beyond_ infuriating.

Because it's the same thing as saying that I have once again fucked myself over, like an idiot, for putting my trust in someone I shouldn't, and that I haven't learned _anything_ from what happened with Sage.

"Well, if you're so sure about it, then where the fuck is your proof?" Jeff pitches again.

"If you were to remove your emotions for a brief minute and listen, I would be happy to inform you." It's as if the hum of electricity joins the air around the five of us as Slender throws a glare towards Jeff's direction. All of us quiet down again as he sighs, the tentacles behind him waving silently, yet nervously behind his back as he stares down at us with concern. "Every time she has been far away from the house, I have been able to slowly regain my abilities... until she returns. Even now, as I stand here before you, I feel as if I am regaining the strength I have lost over these past few days. On top of this, every one of the beings that have been in this house have lost part of their enhanced abilities... except for her. It simply seems to be more than coincidental."

"But it's still a ridiculous prospect to think that she is working with Samarin. We _know_ she isn't one of them because she has been staying here, and we also know that a Samarin that would use the ability to restrict us would have to be evil. Evil Samarin hate anyone that isn't part of their species, and even hate each other just as much most of the time. There's just no way she could be working with one of them." I logically explain, fully doubting that she has any ties to the Samarin. It just isn't probable.

"He's right. If she were actively working against us, then why would she become friends with us? Why would she bother to _protect_ us again and again if she were trying to take us out? She didn't even know the first thing about Samarin until about a day ago! There is _absolutely_ no way that it is her." Masky finally pipes up, and I feel glad to have him at my back defending her, even if we are facing Slenderman, who could rip us to absolute shreds in seconds at even a third of his full power.

Slenderman places a long-fingered hand over his face as his tentacles droop in slight distress, concern washing over his featureless, yet readable face. "Then I want to know if there might be someone trying to protect her from the outside. They might think that someone could hurt her here and might have the power to intercept us in some way."

His desperation shows through as he tries to hold on to the prospect that he might have found the link to what is putting us all in danger here. The tension dies slightly as we realize that he really is only trying to protect us with every ounce of his being. The least we can do is try to help him, but I think he made a mistake throwing an accusation like that at the four of us like that.

"The only family she has left is her sister, and she seems hell-bent on killing her."

"I've been with her from even before she snapped, and there is no way she knew about anything having to do with us or the Samarin in any way before all of this happened. There really isn't anyone who would look after her now besides us."

Hoodie, Jeff, and I all nod to back up Masky before turning back to look at Slenderman, who seems to have lost his conviction. He eventually nods as well, then removes all of the cloths from his body and re-buttons his shirt. "I am glad to hear that you four feel so strongly about protecting her. All the same, please keep a sharp eye out for anyone who might be behind all of this nonsense. I would like to get to the root of this problem as quickly as possible."

All of us nod again, but I quickly jump up from the table as he goes to move. "And just where do you think you're going? Regaining abilities or not, you need to keep resting at least until noon." I chide him, and he sighs as I place my hands on my hips and give him a dark look. He _knows_ that he still needs to rest, yet he keeps wanting to push me on it!

"Fine. I will wait until Miss (L/n) returns. By then I will need to direct the new occupants to their rooms. Until then, I suggest you stand by. It should not take long for her to return."


	21. My Temporary Concussion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgancatlovey is once again being a dumbass.

Well, I've been behind this week, and I got a little "author-ed out" and smacked headfirst into a concrete writer's block, so the 21st chapter of Hitchhiker may come a bit later until my brain reboots itself.  
  
I also would like to inform you that I am going camping for a week starting this Sunday morning, so literally three update days will be missed unless I can scrounge up some wifi from the one fast food restaurant near the campground I will be in. So odd regular updates for the new chapters or... none until I get back. Sorry for the inconvenience and for being a pain in the ass, but I hope you are enjoying that story anyways, and I hope I can come back with even better plot. :)


	22. Schadenfreude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry everyone! As you know, I went camping, but I had my friend with me so I hadn't gotten any writing done like I had planned, and then on top of that, my school started back up Thursday, so I've been a bit weighed down. But anyway, you get a bit of good insight into the mind of Sage and good character development for her as well in this chapter, which I've made up to 6,000 words (somehow). Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, and I hope to continue with updates on Mondays only because of school.
> 
> A/n #2: Sorry, this was supposed to be up way earlier, but I hated a certain portion of it, so I rewrote around 3,000 words of it aaaaaand now it's almost 10. Ugh. Sorry for slackin' everyone. :)

 

**Sage's POV (Backwards time skip)**

A sharp pang of jealousy shoots through me as I accidentally crush the tiny plant wound between my fingers from me from seeing another girl inside Jack's bed. The connection with the life of the plant that originally showed me the real time feed into his bedroom through the root system it was connected to snaps out of my mind like a whiplash, but I barely cringe as white hot anger floods through me.

 _Obviously_ I hate him, but how dare that fucker move on from _me_. I want him to suffer without me, but now that little bitch has _ruined_ my perfect relationship! My hand lashes out towards the ground and rips the long root completely out of the dirt before I can think to stop myself, and the entire image of the house from an evergreen outside- that was also connected through the same roots- disappears, making the sudden darkness of the mountain seem imposingly sinister.

Realizing I just cut off the connection that would allow me to see when she will get be leaving for my position, I growl and lash out towards the tent fabric beside me. The explosive anger fades from me after a minute, but not before there are sizable rips in the sides of the pitiful tent.

I huff in distaste as cold air blows over me and grab my bag, deciding to head down the hill and play "lost hiker" to be able to stay the night in one of the little village houses. It would piss me off to waste my time killing the villagers for a house, and not to mention how it would blow my cover, so I'll just lie to them and stay until morning comes.

**Time Skip**

I almost lose my temper as the portly woman who owns the house wakes me up by talking too loud from the room right outside of the cramped, sparsely decorated bedroom I am in. I think about screaming for her to shut up for a second, but stop as I hear what she is talking so loud about. The rough German dialect reaches my ears, and it takes only a few seconds to realize that she said after I roughly translate it: "It is so odd for so many travelers to be coming through this tiny village. They are frightening the livestock and are a nuisance to deal with."

My bag is in my hand and my still bare feet are slapping against the floor in no time. I shove the gargantuan, brawny woman out of the doorway to crash into the floor and run off into the grassy meadow behind her house, where her bratty little shits play in the grass and point after a maroon colored car winding up towards the mountain.

My feet carry me up the slope as my speed tops out and I fly into the forest. I didn't think she would come this early for them, so I put off killing them. _Fuck_ , I should have done it yesterday night instead of terrorizing them so much, _despite_ how fun it was. But no matter, I'll just do a little last-minute fall cleaning to get the house ready for my guests.

I stumble into the clearing as my feet rapidly heal from slitting the bottom of them on sharp rocks near the edge of the mountainside that I rushed up. They tingle as they heal back in a second, and I concentrate all of my energy into my heels, feeling the roots in the ground directly beneath me shrug the dirt away to wind halfway up my calves. Tapping into their life energy, I reach the vines they curl around deep below the ground which are vastly connected to almost the whole forest. I then use my ability to enlarge the trunks of a few trees around me and put life into the many vines in their branches, sending them towards the house like hordes of snakes.

I hone my senses, and panic as I spot her climbing up the hill with my enhanced sight. I direct all of my attention on the house, getting frustrated as I chase three particularly fast CPs around and destroy a side room of the house. I can already feel my hold on the plants fading as she gets closer and closer to me, but I seem to be more resistant than the Cuntypastas, because they seem to be fully unable to use their abilities right now. I steal the lives of those three and send the rest of the plants upstairs to get the last blond boy down so I can finish him off, but he keeps evading the vines.

He spots me out of the broken window near him as he moves from the vines again and musters up his strength to pick up a large, crystalline bookend off of a shelf and at me. It comes at me at a higher speed than I anticipated and hits me square in the chest, knocking the vines away from my feet as I unintentionally stumble back with a loud thwack as I slam into a tree trunk.

I lose sight of him through the window, and almost run in after him to kill him with my bare hands in a sudden fit of unadulterated rage, but I snap behind my tree as that bitch tears out from the forest and into the clearing.

Fuck.

I try to wrap the limp roots around my ankles again, but the vines barely twitch. I know in my mind that it will take a lot of energy to get the vines back up and running again, so I simply monitor her while I slowly gain more strength through channeling the life of a particularly large tree beside me into me, killing it, but replenishing my strength and filling my body to the brim with power as the already decaying tree groans in the mountain breeze.

A smirk stretches across my face as the plants wrap around me again, and I catch that last little Swedish fuck just in time before she drags him out of there, which I can see through the plants as they course through his chest cavity. The look on her face as she reels back causes me to laugh briefly, but my laughter is cut off as she wastes no time in whipping around to run back out of the door.

_FUCK._

I thought she would be frozen with fear and shock, and didn't plan for _this_ shit!

I throw myself off of the ground and bolt after her, trying to bring life into any plant I can to snatch her, but I miss every time. I stop for a second after jumping from the small rocky cliff that continues into the straightening, yet disappearing path. I stand and concentrate on the space far in front of her, using the last bits of my stolen energy to create a trap for her, which she falls right into- never seeing my trump card until she is too late.

I slump into another tree as I stumble and slide down the dirt path along the side of the cliff and steal its life force, but it doesn't fill me with as much energy as I need- my physical fatigue and my close proximity to her causing me to feel incredibly weak.

Nonetheless, I walk over and sow the metaphorical seeds of terror in her brain before and right as I suffocate her into unconsciousness. As soon as I do, I slump to the side, using the small amount of borrowed energy to get the vines to carry her up to the house as I force myself to remove myself from the ground and trudge behind them at a slower pace.

I fall a couple of times and almost drop her, cursing that fucking ability of hers, yet being thankful for it now that I have her in my grasp. As the vines roll her into the grass as they fall inanimate, I make my way up to her and drag her into the blood soaked house.

Fucking hell- maybe I should have let her round them up and bring them into the forest so I could kill them _there_. I can't help thinking it, even though I know it would have been almost impossible to kill them with my power being sapped away from me due to her being too close.

I throw her into a chair upstairs with loud, raspy breaths coursing through my body as fatigue pinches my muscles. I know she won't wake up until later, but I lock the door and place a tiny flower in the corner to monitor her just in case, then make my way downstairs again.

Working for almost an hour, I finally drag all of the bodies down and throw them over the cliff along the path to the road. It takes so much out of me that I almost collapse on the way back, but thankfully I was able to extract another tree's life in order to get me back up on my feet and energized only enough to wake her up and talk to her. I'm curious as to how much she knows about herself, because she seems like she knows a few things about being a Samarin- that are still just the fundamentals- however she still doesn't seem to know much. I don't know all that much about her powers either except for what her sister informed about what it was when she entered her mind a few nights ago. It was easy to form a plan to capture her with my knowledge of every safehouse the creepypasta have and how weak or strong everybody is.

Safe to say, when those morons trust you, it doesn't take long to get all the info.

And now I have both of the tools I needed in order to wipe out Jack, and every one of those CP _fucks_. Using Lilly as leverage over (Y/n), she will learn to control her abilities and take down all defenses (ability wise), and I will be able to _finally_ kill him.

Don't get me wrong, I do love him- I love to hate him- and I love how weak he is now that I'm gone. I did that to him. I have _so much_ power over his heart, and I love him for giving all of that to me. Once I finally kill him, I will finally give him the ultimate gift of love because _I_ was the one who took his life,- he woman he loves personally took the time to kill him instead of leaving it to someone he didn't even know. I think of it as kind of as a thank you. And because I will have been powerful enough to take down the man that once made me feel so disgustingly weak just being near me, I will also become even stronger.

My insane mind has trouble piecing my feelings for him all together sometimes into words, but the feeling is enough for me. I _don't_ have to explain it clearly to some _intrusive fuck_. I'm the only one who needs to understand it because I'm the only one I need.

And when it's all said and done, I'll throw (Y/n) to Lilly for her to kill as I promised in our deal. And when that naive little shit isn't looking, _I'll slit her throat_.

I walk heavily up the stairs to get up to the attic with vines trailing behind me, then unlock the door to (Y/n)'s room. I waste no time in padding over to her and winding my vines up around her before jerking the knife out of her shoulder. Obviously I have no patience for wasting time.

She sputters back to life and reels back away from the knife, noticing her bindings. I gaze at her shoulder, admiring the smooth skin left behind. Samarin are truly the best and most powerfully amazing race in existence, and I can't help but admire her powers that I now own.

I sigh out in unconcealed admiration. "Lovely li'l power, isn't it? Can't say it's all that painless though." A sly smile graces my lips and I resist the urge to reach out and brush my fingers over the regenerated flesh, instead moving the knife down to my side and thumbing the blade before flipping it in. Her face twists in slight confusion and fear, and a spark of mischief ignites within me. "It's _perfect_ for torture however."

She contorts her face into an accusative and hard expression. "What the fuck are you talking about?" She snarls back.

"Come on, I know you're not that idiotic." I dig my nail into the rubber handle of the switchblade to control my anger. I don't need any fucking questions from her, that little annoying bitch. Still, I have time to kill until Lilly gets here, so I might as well find something to do. "Our healing." I answer her. I don't know why she is asking, she should definitely know how she heals by now.

Her blank look and the way she says "Our?" is incredibly infuriating. "Our?" What the fuck does she mean, "Our?" I scoff at her inane question and roll my eyes at her. She thinks she can lie to me? I know she isn't that stupid. A Samarin can't be _that_ ignorantly idiotic.

I bend down to look into her eyes, judging her exact feelings. Anger flashes through her eyes the most, but after a few seconds of sifting behind it, I find utter confusion.

Oh god. She _is_ that stupid.

"You really are _that_ dense." The words escape my mouth because I'm so shocked and disappointed that a Samarin, much less one _related_ to me, is that ignorant. I back up from her and run my hand through my hair exasperatedly. Alright, I guess I won't mind spoon feeding it to her. A smile works its way back onto my face as I imagine how much fun explaining to her will be.

"Before we get into all that explaining and shit, I've got a teensy little question for ya. Might help you put the little pieces together 'fore we move on, sweety.~" I might as well start with her mother, the one who fucked these two potentially incredibly powerful young Samarin over by diluting their blood with a human. I move to a table behind me and place the knife down before looking back at her.

"What was your momma's maiden name?"

Simple. Even an idiot knows their mother's name. But why the fuck does she still look confused? A small apathetic grin hides in the corner of my mouth as she straightens up after a second, bravery flickering in her eyes.

"First I want to know, was this a trap for me, or for Slenderman?"

My smile falls flat. How _fucking_ dare she. I'm graciously taking _my_ time to explain it to her, and she thinks she can change the subject? My fingertips have barely left the knife after placing it down, so in no time it has been flipped open again and sent careening towards her face. She barely dodges it before it slams into the wall behind her.

I can't believe she tried to interrupt my explanation. "Doesn't matter. I ask the questions here, you little bitch. _What was her name?!_ "

"Never told me."

"Course she did. Spill it, kid." Regaining a little bit of patience now that she is obeying me, I change my tone as I lean back against the table nonchalantly.

"I. Don't. Remember." She snarls with a hard edge in her tone. Ugh. Why won't she just be good and listen? I bend down again and grip her chin this time as she tries to move away from me and grits her teeth menacingly. Well if she didn't want me to treat her like this, then why is she refusing to comply?

I continue to explain to her, despite her horrible attitude that I politely overlook and refrain from torturing her... much. Her skeptical look shines through every other emotion as I continue to explain in further detail of what she is, why she is what she is, and what her sole purpose in living is: to tear apart the Creepypastas. But for some reason she doesn't want to believe it. Doesn't she know that I have _nothing_ to lose? Why would I lie?

Just in case, I remind her of it before exiting the room again to get back to the first floor. I don't bother locking the door. She is tied up and thinks that I have a huge advantage over her, so why should I worry? If anything it will scare her further if she tries to escape. I think she's too dumb to deduce that she's being falsely trapped for herself- much less anything else- so as I trudge down the stairs and utter exhaustion overwhelms me, I allow myself to slump down on a couch in the living room to get a bit of shuteye.

If any CPs come, their powers will be blocked, and I will have the upper hand because I can replenish my power and destroy them. And nobody on Earth excluding few Samarin have senses as keen as I do.

I am the one who will pull the puppet strings this time, and all of my pawns are in the palm of my hand to control. With (Y/n), I will reach the throne room, and when she's fulfilled her sole purpose in life- to serve me- her death will allot the throne to me.

And I will finally hold the royal position I deserve as _Queen,_ looking down onto the world with divine judgement.

And the best part is... _no one can possibly stop me_.

**Your POV (Time Skip)**

I spend about ten minutes trying to come up with different ways to try and distract Sage, but I end up with little to nothing. Lightly banging my forehead into the wall, I groan and take a hold of my switchblade, jerking it out of the wall in frustration before flipping around to press my back against it. It's annoying. I know practically nothing about Sage that would benefit me in trying to escape from her, and _beyond_ that, I don't even know which of my exits are open if I even _can_ somehow distract her. I just need a whole hell of a lot more information, and I have such an infinitesimally small span of time and actual leeway to be able to get it, and it is _abso-fucking-lutely_ pissing me off.

I have an urge to bury the switchblade back into the wall, or at least into one of these big ass vines, but I stop myself. I don't want to unnecessarily dull my blade. I shift my eyes down to it for a second, then knit my eyebrows together as a sudden idea pops into my head. Why would she leave the knife with me? Sure, she likes to skip over 99% of the letters needed to form words in her sentences, but she's not _stupid_. I twist the blade around in my hand, mulling over my possibilities. She's cocky, that's for sure. Maybe it's because of her severe advantage over me inside of this forest. But too much cockiness means that she won't expect me to do something drastic in order to get away. My eyes flick back to the window and I gaze out over the trees again, looking at the path of shrubbery stretching to to road with uncertainty.

Even if I do manage something, is there even a slim chance that I will be able to get away? I hopelessly frown, but shake my head. I know that she needs to keep me here for something because she wouldn't be explaining things to me if she weren't. I'm already pushed into a corner, and if I don't do something now while I am sure that I need to be kept alive, then I obviously might get a chance to try and use that as my protective shield later.

I peer at the door, then direct my body towards it. I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath before slowly letting it out as I open my eyes to take my first step. I take a firm hold of the handle, relishing in the coolness of the knob as my body heats up with nervousness. I just hope that I'm right. I twist and pull, and surprisingly it opens towards me. I curl my lip in hatred. That bitch. First she leaves the knife in the wall, and now she leaves the door is unlocked. I must really be severely fucked if she's _this_ blatantly careless about me trying to escape.

I take a few steps forward and peer down the stairs. they lead to the second floor and stop for a couple paces, then resume in heading down to the main floor. The stench of blood wafts up from below, but as I focus my hearing and sight more to be ready for anything, it is drowned out.

The plan in my mind is to try and figure out an exit route before pushing on to gauge Sage's reaction to seeing me walking around with a knife after just being tied up not fifteen minutes ago. I tiptoe down the steps, silently rolling my feet on the floor until I reach the second floor. Almost all of the doors are open, so I move down the hall peering into each for any windows I can safely jump out of. After an eventless five minutes, I head back to the stairs, where I continue down to the first floor.

The main door stands firmly shut next to me, and I'm incredibly tempted to run, but I know in my mind that it won't be that easy, so I disparagingly continue to search for other routes. Peering behind the stairs and holding my blade out in front of my body protectively, I continue to move along. I can't hear any real noise, but I'm also having a little trouble honing my hearing completely due to the forest sounds surrounding me on all sides.

The first place I move to check is two doors down on the stair-side wall. This is the only place that the dark hole in the attic could lead down to from what the house layout seems to be. I hug the wall under the stairs and quietly push open the door once I get there. I automatically sigh in frustration. The whole right side of the room is totaled, and as I move into it, I see that there must be a small basement underneath this room too. As my eyes trail from where I can see light in the attic all the way down to look into the horribly dark room below, I automatically know that it would be too far of a drop for me to risk. I know that if I broke my legs falling they would heal pretty quick, but I can't risk waiting. I need to be running as fast as possible on perfectly healed legs. The only route that's looking good to me is through the front door, which seems to taunt me menacingly as I exit the room again.

As I hold my hand to my head in exasperation, a sudden sound catches my ears. Holy... fuck, is she _snoring?_ I want to wring her neck then and there for treating me like I'm as threatening as dirt, but my rational side takes over. If I were to run out the front door right now, the creak would wake her up and send her flying off at me in an instant. But if she is sleeping and she hasn't heard me yet, could I possibly kill her? I glance down at the knife in my hands as the etching in the blade catches a small bit of light, making the design glow slightly. Another thing pops up in my mind. If I managed to kill Sage and get to the car, I'll be free, but do I need anything else that she took from me?

I think about it for a second. My backpack has nothing of real value, my phone isn't worth risking staying here for any longer, and my extra keys are in my car, which is completely untouched from what I saw in the window earlier. Making my mind up, I surreptitiously creep towards the noise, making sure that I can barely hear myself even with my extremely heightened hearing right now. I peek into the living room and notice something that I hadn't before. The bodies of the previous CP residents have been physically dragged through the front door. The blood trails they leave behind are jagged, and if Sage used plants to carry them away, the blood trail would be straight and not as dark.

Now _why_ would she need to physically drag them out of the front door and down the hill when she can use the plants?

I take a millisecond to quickly figure it out a little because it might help me escape. My abilities aren't one hundred percent all the time and it wears me out after a while if I use them at 100%. Maybe it's the same way with Sage? If so, she could be storing up her power for something. But even as I think that, my eyes revert back to the drag marks. She's strong though, so why does she keeps stopping with the bodies instead of just taking a leg and simply hauling them out?

Tired. She has to be tired.

That's right. She used up a lot of energy trying to capture me even after she killed all of the CPs in the house, who were still at full power compared to the main safe house back home. She is also sound asleep on the couch. No matter how cocky she is, sleeping while in a situation like this is definitely not something Sage would do unless she was incredibly tired. She's the type of person that has to constantly move around, so that is the only way she would be doing this.

As another snore echoes into my ears, I erase all of my thoughts again and stalk forward towards her. I'll bury the knife in her heart. And fuck- if _that_ doesn't kill her, nothing will.

Regardless of that, it will be pretty liberating to kill the bitch anyway. _What?_ I'm no innocent little _snowflake_. Don't look at me like _that_.

In seconds I'm staring at her relaxed face as she slowly breathes in and out. I expect her to jump up at any second and turn a hidden blade on me, but she doesn't have anything weapon-wise on her at all. She's completely unguarded. I take in a large yet silent breath and ready my blade before turning my feet towards the door. I plan to do it in a second and hold it in my mind so I won't lose my conviction, and with one final look, I slam the knife down into her chest cavity.

She jolts, her eyes widening considerably before rapidly dulling in the corner of my eyes as I turn to bolt down towards the front door. My hand flies to the knob and throws the door open, and as it slams into the wall just behind me as my feet hit grass, an enraged scream pierces my ears from inside the house. Terror prompting my legs and arms to pump harder than ever, I max out my speed and careen down the hill with blurs of green in my vision. The only thing that keeps me from going off of the path is the small tan line and a gut feeling of where I am, and when I suddenly reach the cliff and throw myself off, I catch full shapes for the first time in a few seconds.

Bodies. Too many for me to _want_ to count. And I'm heading straight towards them as I shoot through the air slightly slower than a bullet. My foot snags on a person as I hit the ground and I tumble, but I quickly right myself and speed on. My heart pounds rapidly in my chest, but stops for a second as I hear something behind me.

It's Sage. I know it's her from her heavy breathing and footfalls, _and she can't be but ten feet away from me_. My eyes pleadingly search for the car and instantly find it. A glimpse of what happened last time I shot straight for that car hits me, and my feet leave the ground for a second to do a stop turn before I can even think about it. Sage passes me in a rush of wind before I set off into the trees and use my time advantage to grab a thick limb in front of me on a thick poplar and hoist myself up on it to shoot up the limbs without any fear of falling, but only of being caught.

Spotting her on the path from the top of the tree by peeking through masses of leaves, I stop breathing. She frantically looks around with a horrible snarling expression on her face before setting off towards my general direction.

 _FUCK._ I just stabbed her in the fucking heart and she's up running after me in a matter of seconds. But as fear shoots through me, my brain tries to calm it down with one thought.

_But she hasn't used any plants against me yet._

It calms me for a second before I scream in pain as something grabs my ankle and pulls me off of the branch I was crouching on. At first all I see is Sage's grin, but then I'm seeing green, and then black as my body collides with the ground and dirt fills my throat as I scream my lungs out in pain. I don't have to be a genius to know instantly that my spine has snapped in two somewhere because every bit of my body is ignoring me except for my lungs.

I scream and scream into the ground until my spine heals, and my brain goes haywire as I feel that she has vines wrapped around my arms and legs, then more vines pulling them together behind my back as I lay sideways on the ground. My eyes train on her standing over me and my scream of "GET OFF" instantly kills the vines holding me down. She looks incredibly shocked for a second as I give her a swift, harsh kick to her legs, knocking her to the ground as dust fills the air from her dead plants as I turn to push myself up and sprint off. Unfortunately, she grabs my hair and yanks me to her before rolling on top of my back with a maniacal grin.

My knife's handle digs painfully into the skin between my shoulder blade and spine. I snarl and bite and kick at her like a pinned tiger, but she simply takes the hits with her unchanging smile, even when I violently snap my arm back and poke my thumb into one of her eyes.

She then sighs, accidentally blowing bits of blood at me as it flows in rivers over her lips from her eye, then she takes my arms and holds them down with seemingly no effort at all.

"You're not as incredibly clueless as I thought, I guess." She comments almost lovingly. "I'd expect nothing less from a Veretta! But _that. Fucking._ _Hurt_." She bares her teeth at me as her eyes grow incredibly dark. "I would kill you right _now_ if I didn't think you'd allow yourself to be reborn or see your disgusting, scum mother in paradise if given the choice." My mind barely grasps onto how she came back after dying and instead yells at me to fight, which I have no qualms with. She shoves my face in the dirt as I go to bite and throw her off, then continues talking. "It complicates things now that you know about your interception abilities, but at least I know now that you aren't as unworthy and disappointingly moronic as I originally thought." Her expression turns into an amused sneer. "You've been playing dumb so you could try to catch me off guard, haven't you?" Her pupils shrink into almost tiny pinpricks and her red eyes resemble a blood moon as a sudden thought strikes her. " _You_ have been exceedingly _evil_.~ You've been stringing your little fucktoys along this whole time- playing the loving little _cunt_ when you've been leading them to their deaths all by _yourself_! You _do_ deserve the name, and I may even rethink your undeniable role when I _finally kill them all_. Hmm, how does being the sole breeder of the Veretta lineage sound to a little whore like you?" She laughs at my revolted expression, then quiets down for a second, silently surveying me with half lidded eyes in an indifferent expression.

"Alright, enough playing. We need to get you back up into your cage, little birdie. I'll let you sing again once your little sister meets up at the rendezvous point and contacts me. She's just _dying_ to see you."

Sage suddenly moves and stomps on my spine, using her leverage to grab onto both of my arms and forceably remove them from their sockets. I scream into the air, but she simply moves her foot up to slam it down on my head, breaking my nose on the hard ground.

She then uses my uselessly dangling arms to pull me up as I unceremoniously scream my lungs out for anyone to hear through blood, although I know no one will come. She grabs my throat with her hard calloused hand and squeezes, snapping my head back so it's painfully laying on her shoulder as she stares down at me with a serious expression as I slightly hunch over in pain.

"Walk. Or I'll dislocate your legs too and kick you back up the hill."

I unwittingly sputter as she lets go of me and shoves me forward so my arms flare up in excruciating pain once the reach their full length. She then starts walking, forcing me to push forward unless I want my arms to come completely off next.

I gnaw on my lip to keep the pain and fury back, instead thinking of every possible way I can escape now that I know she think she is powerless against my ability. Without the huge threat of the forest around me looming upon me and keeping me in line, Sage seems to be incredibly dead set and serious now. This might be a problem. Obviously she won't use plants anymore to try and stop me from escaping because she thinks I know exactly how to use my ability.

 _"Interception"._ That's what she called it. _That's_ the ability I didn't want to hear I had. The thought that she was alluding that my unintentional use of my ability was actually on purpose is incredibly infuriating. My rage bursts from within my heart and ignites my blood, the flames flowing throughout me and filling me with hatred. And she had the nerve to even _mention_ that I might have been hurting the ones I want to protect on _purpose-_ and on top of _that_ , she said is planning to use me as a... a _fucking cow_ , after seeing the death of my comrades right before my eyes. How fucking _dare_ she.

A list of horrible things that I want to do to her run through my head as my shoes dig unnecessarily hard into the grass, pummeling it into the ground with my boots. I hiss as the bones in my arms jerk back into their sockets like invisible steel wire is tied onto them, but shriek in agony as Sage slams her foot into my back again, tearing the balls of my shoulders out of their joint sockets yet again.

She giggles behind me like a disturbed child and squeezes on my arms harder as she feels my muscles spaz from the sudden dislocation. Okay. I don't care if this bitch is purely evil against her will- I'm going to slaughter her once I get the chance.

In sudden revulsion at her behavior, my passionate hatred for her fuels my brain to kick into high gear and plan for an escape route now that I know she is restraining herself from using the plants through her noticeable exhausted air about her, which came about her as soon as she tried to use the plants to tie me up.

As I walk up the hill with her hot on my heels, possibilities stitch together into elaborately woven plans as all of the information converges together in my mind- a confident and dark grin playing on my lips. I _can_ escape, and I'll be _damned_ if I let her hurt any part of my new, _or_ old family- much less get away with this.


	23. Unfurling Blossom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Yep it's late. I'm actually putting some warnings for this chapter, so be.... warned. Okay, I hope you enjoy this new chapter even though it's late as fuck. ALSO, I appreciate any and all feedback good or bad, so please comment on anything you like, think I need to work on, or just generally wish I would rewrite differently. I can take criticism guys- it's okay! I'm asking for it, and I swear I won't get mad at all. But anyways, I really do appreciate you guys patiently waiting, and I hope you enjoy.

Warning: Degrading/Sensitive language, slight gore

 

I stumble through the jarred, splintered front door and up the two flights of stairs, then yelp as Sage throws me into the armless wooden chair again and promptly locks the door behind her. I rub my shoulders as they pull back together a bit smoother and gentler this time, as if the cognitive mechanism pulling my bones together again can understand my anguish.

 

Sage digs her nails into the floorboards in the corner of the room and pulls my backpack from a bed of still-green leaves. She then takes the rope from the main pocket, and continues on to throw both the bag and the rope over either of her shoulders before moving back to me. She eyes me coolly yet dangerously, staying silent as she slams her foot down on the chair between my legs to keep it still, then violently pulls the rope around my chest again. She seems to angrily tie the knots, so I take the advantage of her anger muddled attention and puff out my chest, continuing to breathe while holding the position so I don’t seem suspicious. Once she finishes her top knots with jerky, huff-like breaths through her nose as she glares down at the ropes, she moves to do my calves, which I already have flexed seconds before she looks down.

 

Once she finishes, she jolts back up and stomps out of the room, where she re-locks the door and makes a point of showing me that she is putting a chair in front of it as well by dragging it across the hall and rattling the knob. I immediately unflex my muscles so they are looser around my legs and chest, then try to wiggle my feet out of their binds.

 

A smirk stretches across my teeth as I get the ropes off with only a little bit of working effort. This is going better than I thought.

 

Minutes of walking up the slope with anger mixed, and desperation to kill, and survival instinct simmering in my brain, my mind unconsciously came up with a few different plans, which were all finally revealed to me when Sage pulled the secret compartment up and pulled my backpack out. The leaves will be incredibly flammable if I can get to them and kill them only part of the way to where they will easily catch fire and burn, then if I add some splinters of wood to the fire to keep it going until it catches portions of the dry wood in the attic from the autumn season, I will have a formidable distraction that I can toss half into the basement of the house and leave half in my room.

 

It seems like an awesome plan to my fear and anger riddled mind, but there seem to be two problems with it- one: is that Sage might be able to detect the smell of fire even if I use the window for ventilation, and two: is that I can't get these binds off without another razor blade- and as I desperately kick my heels against the damned hidden compartments in my shoes, I realize that neither of them seem to want to budge open even a millimeter. Hot air must have accumulated in my boot from my body heating up from nervousness and physical activity, and the moisture in that hot air must have caused the materials holding that compartment in place to expand in its socket.

 

I glare at the heel of my boot and close my eyes in suffocated rage, then take a deep breath and kick my boots against the chair legs. Maybe added force will be able to wedge them open, but as soon as I do it, the harsh thwacking noise it creates rebounds across the room and bounces off of the walls for what seems like ten minutes.

 

I wait with bated breath as I hear Sage moving two floors down into the hallway right outside of the demolished room directly below me. After a minute of silence, I take it as the okay to continue and shove my foot into the chair leg again. With a small click of the compartment coming undone reaching my ears, I let out an immense sigh of relief.

 

That is until I hear the chair being thrown into the hallway right outside as the knob violently jiggles from being forced open. I scramble to try to push it back in, but the compartment refuses to shut the same way it refused to open. I resort to throwing my leg back to try and get it to reach my hands- desperately fumbling with my fingertips for a razor blade and a match- but she comes barreling into the room with pure lividity drowning out all other expression from her features.

 

We stay paralyzed in silence for about a millisecond, analyzing each other's positions before our limbs rush around in a flurry of movement to fulfill our individually drastic objectives.

 

I scream as she lunges for the leg that was splayed out on the floor in front of me as I try to throw my other leg even further back. She grits her teeth in a sadistic and enraged expression as she sends the tips of her long nails into the flesh of my calf even through my jean fabric, languidly ripping down the soft flesh of my leg until she snags the boot and rips it clean off of my foot in a swift movement. I roar in pain as she throws it over her shoulder, smacking it into the wall. My other foot comes flying forward- its other purpose completely forgotten- and forcibly connects with her head right where her jaw connects to her skull, dislocating it and making it fall limply down so it looks as if half of her face has lost complete neural control and function.

 

She shrieks in pain, which causes her jaw to bounce pitifully against her neck, then she turns to me with piercing red eyes as her monstrous expression turns darker. She smacks her hands down on my opposite thigh and repeats the same motion of ripping down the fabric of the jeans despite my well aimed kicks to her body, that she barely flinches from. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes but I force them back with explosive rage as I change my purpose for kicking- instead of trying to push her away, at least I can try to get the terribly painful process over with as quick as possible.

 

My other leg flies out and hits her square in the chest, forcing the front legs of the chair to leave the ground and the chair to flip back onto its side, allowing Sage to grasp onto the boot and yank it off finally. I try to kick her feet out as blood streams from the lengthy gashes in my skin, but she pretends like she doesn't notice as she shoots me an apathetic glare. 

 

"What did you think you were going to do you annoying little cunt- cut me with a tiny little razor blade?" She takes my knife out of her pocket and flips it open as she tosses my boot to the side, her expression turning dark and amused as she crouches down and jabs it into one of the gashes near my ankle, wedging it in further with tiny little twists as she continues to twitchily grin. "You really must be fucking him well- EJ only told me about his gear, he never would have let me any of it. How does he taste, huh? Like this?" She suddenly removes the blade and grabs my jaw, working it open to ultimately shove it through the soft skin of my cheeks, right between my teeth. She leaves the knife there as the blade slits my tongue cross ways and leaves an awful, incredibly over powerful taste of iron in my mouth that eventually leaks through the incisions in my cheeks.

 

She stands up and looks down at me again, surveying her work with a proud smile. "Now you have two more holes for him to use you fucking slut. Aren't you happy?"

 

I continue to gnash my teeth together over the blade in anger as I glower up at her. She bends down and throws the chair back up again, then continues to look down on me with amusement. Grabbing the hilt of the switchblade, she removes it from my mouth. I hack up a large amount of blood as it overstimulates my gag-reflex, and bend over- thick gobs of dark crimson dripping from my mouth and flowing through the floorboards beneath my quivering legs.

 

I grit my teeth, wanting any other taste in my mouth besides this- no matter what it is. It's absolutely disgusting, and Sage stares down at the revolting rouge puddle with almost childlike curiosity. She flips my blade back in and pockets it again.

 

"I'll leave you to yourself then." She turns from me with a slight sight and goes around the room picking up the sad heaps of material that once were my boots and parts of my shredded jeans. She then moves towards the door, and without looking back towards me, she opens her mouth again. "Your sister should be arriving shortly- then you'll be able to see your little fuck buddies again."

 

I throw several horrible insults at her back once my tongue heals as she replaces the chair in front of the door again, but she ignores them. I dig my nails into the rope and rub my legs together, suddenly feeling horribly cold as blood leaks down my legs and chest. I finally let the tears fall down my face as I curl my toes into the blood slicked skin of the bottom of my feet. It's painful to hold them in anymore, and I feel as if my tear ducts would burst if I held back any longer. I don't sob or wail, I just stare forward, feeling weak and cold and trapped.

 

Every. Single. Plan.

 

Ruined.

 

I scrunch my eyes together for a second, then throw my head down towards my feet. A breath catches firm in my chest as if it suddenly turns to leaden gold.

 

A match swings in the soft cool breeze filling the room as it barely hangs between two loose floorboards. The bottom half is broken- I must have had it almost out before Sage ripped the boot away by the heels and forced the compartment back in.

 

A single sob escapes my mouth, but it's happy this time. I feel my body fill back up with strength as my wounds warm and heal back, the pain it brought before completely absent now. New energy courses through my bruised but steadily healing body, and I find the strength to try and wiggle my arms up and out of the rope binding across my chest. It's painful, but just barely, as my arms warm with the healing sensation just as the skin rubs raw.

 

A feeling of control comes over me as the warmth travels in tingling waves up my arms and legs. I have power over my healing ability- maybe not completely to where it is a totally painless procedure, but I have improved by leaps and bounds, giving me even more strength as my arms slide free from the scratchy white bindings.

 

I slide the weighty rope over my head and gently place it down on the floor in sagging coils near me. Ever so quietly, I place my feet back on the floor and tread over to the swaying match, plucking it from the floorboards. I creep across the floor to the open compartment in the wooden planks below me, then crouch down and hover my hand over the leaves in a small experiment.

 

Willing the leaves to decay, I watch as they obey my internal command. Now knowing I don't have to be touching the plants to intercept Sage's power, I maliciously grin. I have her by her massive fucking balls, and that cocky bitch doesn't even know it yet. I grab leaves one at a time to place them in a pile near the chair I was sitting in until it's big enough to serve as a sufficient crux to start my fire upon. This way, as it sits near the blood on the floor, the suffocating stench of it will hopefully overpower the smell of the fire. Laying my chair back on its side, I carefully remove one of the legs so it scarcely makes any noise. I then take another leg and make a small teepee over the pile of leaves so they won't make a horrible crackling sound if I lay them directly over the leaves, but immediately come up with a better idea as I feel wind blow over the ripped fabric of the bottom of my jeans.

 

I rip the strips off near my calf and unbraid part of the rope near the chair to tie the fabric to the ends of both of my removed chair legs. I then lay them off to the side and splinter off a few more pieces of the dry, cracked chair just to add to the pile to get it going. Then once satisfied, I take the match in my hand and hold it in front of me for a few seconds, then glance down at my watch before looking back.

 

12:27 PM. They should definitely be worried by now, and I can only hope that I will be able to call them in time to warn them to stay home in safety. Taking one last look at the car outside and the match in front of me, I cross my fingers and scrape the tiny red tip on the floor next to me.

 

The tiny wick at the end bursts into a tiny bud of scarlet that suddenly unfurls as it touches the tiny mass of leaves in front of me, adding to the already fiercely burning fire in my eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I planned to do another bit in Sage's POV, however I really wanted to get this updated before 12 AM here, so either I will add it in somewhere this week, or wait until Monday of next week to get it out, because I want a tiny bit more of what is all happening to be revealed in this portion before you as the reader head back home.
> 
>  
> 
> So, the moral of my story is don't do your homework instead of your writing. I mean... plan effectively. Hope you enjoyed, and remember to give me some feedback- puh-lease, thank ya, and buh-less. XD


	24. Yin and Yang

Sage's POV (just after the boot incident):

My fingertips brush against the dry wood of the chair in front of the attic door as I remove my hand from it with pursed lips. I might be in trouble. Something has been bothering me ever since (Y/n) escaped again. When I re-inhabited my body earlier- just after I overwrote the hour long wait to chase after her again- I noticed a small change in my body.

I hesitantly grasp the front of my shirt, fisting the material of my white jacket that has little starchy splotches on it from areas of thickly layered blood spatter, mixed with dusty brown traces of dirt making hard patches. My fist hovers over the small wisp of a feeling as it gently moves as if disturbed by a faint breeze. My brow quirks in confusion. It almost feels alive, but nothing could have possibly entered the shell of my body while I was forced to decide on life yet again, as so many Samarin's do.

A simper weaves between my chapped lips as I start to descend to the second floor; the thought of what a remarkable being a Samarin is causing it to form. I note a heaviness settle in my throat and slide down towards my stomach like sludge, but barely notice it for it's familiar feel. But as it reaches the little bundled presence curled up in me, the seemingly innocuous coils lash out across my body from inside.

My heart suddenly constricts in my chest, and I desperately grapple for the nearest thing to support me. Shuddery breaths rack through my body, and the pads of my fingers press into the wall so hard, they turn snow white against my tan, freckled skin. The concrete mass of black in my throat shrinks away and dissipates into nothingness- leaving the other feeling behind.

Now what the fuck was that?

Another horrible shiver runs through me as it feels like it coils up within me again, and my jaw clenches together tightly in horrified shock, even though its protective essence lulls into a gentle, feathery cluster. I allow myself to move and slump down against the wall adjacent the stairway once I am confident my legs will properly obey me, and find myself going from staring at the wall to the bloodied hands in my lap. A pang runs through my chest as I stare at the mess of rouge mixed with hints of deep, Vandyke brown, and for some reason I can't help but hurriedly scrape my hands against the floorboards in a futile attempt to erase the prominent stains from the crevices in my hands.

My knees find their way up to my bosom and tightly tuck themselves just under my chin as I continue to rub my palms raw and fill them with splinters. Truthfully, I realize that now just I'm trying to conceal the memory of the harmless bundle striking out and flooding me with emotions that sent every nerve in my body into waves of electric shock with intense pain, but it does me little good in my objective. I growl.

In seconds I deduce what they were, but try to fight against them. I'm not supposed to worry. I'm not supposed to doubt. And I'm not supposed to feel impressed- much less sorry. Especially not for her.

My hands quiver from abuse as they leak tiny trails of blood from raw patches of torn skin and mingle with her blood, and I find myself wanting to scream as even my blood doesn't look as rich as hers as in pools next to the still wet streams glinting in the light as they wind down my wrists while I quiver. Soft words inside my mind try to almost sweetly reassure me that what I felt was only the sting of adrenaline, and that I am well protected against any threats, but it shuts up as I bury my fingers deep into my ear canals and slam my eyes together to block it out. It's too... nice to be something coming from inside of me.

And if I'm so goddamn powerful and protected, then how has she managed to almost escape twice now, kill me once, and manage to stay completely determined through every ounce of torture I've dealt? Fuck- it's obvious she was barely conscious of her ability when she first got here, but she's figuring it out, and she's getting even more powerful with every passing fucking minute! My eyes crack open only slightly, giving me a blurry image of the rickety wooden stairway in front of me.

My brain feels overloaded with information. My lips quirk as I feel like laughing at the thought that she is bound and helplessly bleeding, yet my chest feels congested and tight as I also feel like crying for hours upon end for hurting my family. And God, the latter terrifies me. It's beyond baffling that the thought would even dare enter my evil mucked mind- like an incredibly tiny toddler wandering into the darkest, scariest forest you can think of, with nobody to protect her or comfort her at all, yet still donning a bright grin on her rosy face.

I remove my fingers from my ears to place my hands over my face as I stare straight into them with wide eyes. Beyond the odd feelings, one horrified realization hums loudly in my mind like the bass of a huge ass speaker playing at full volume with only a wall separating me from it.

I can't use my ability against her anymore, much less barely use it at all. That is the only thing that can protect me, and ever will protect me. My abilities don't make me weak, they strengthen and protect me, unlike the people she seems to hold dear now- who I used to care for in the same way. But no, all of the beings at that damned house will only make her weak with emotion when the time comes to fight.

A capsule of rage plunges into my stomach and dissolves, expelling outwards into my fingertips and filling me with the power and strength I crave for only a moment before fading into unusual, sudden, heart-plummeting despair as the strand touches it again. I know it stems from thinking about him. No, I didn't want to leave him behind- yes I did, he made me weak- but no I loved- but no I only hate-

I whimper and cram my face between my knees, feeling my mind practically tearing myself apart. One half of my body feels taut with rage, and the other- the side with my heart- sags in depressed sadness. I throw myself off of the floor and stomp down the hallway with my eyes closed. I internally shriek at the invisible ropes drawing and quartering me from the inside out, but they refuse to listen, so I desperately reach for some sort of purchase to quell the aching in my soul.

Whatever it is, it's cold, yet damp from humidity, and my first thought is to throw it away from me. The harsh creak of a door cuts through my silent torment and makes me open my eyes with surprise. I hurriedly try to drown out my thoughts with observations. I'm good at observing. Perceiving. Stop. Stop it.

I stumble into the room with my fist over the invisible, swaying strand inside of me, perilously searching for something interesting to think about to drown the battle of what seems to be two opposites inside of my body and mind.

A huge vine that seems to have burst up through the floor and caved in the ceiling above with it's massive weight lays heavily flopped into one corner, where the fragments of what used to be the ceiling above have been thrown haphazardly off to the side. My mind runs wild with pointless calculations to almost hysterically search for some type of solace.

But it fails.

Disparity takes over my mind in the form of a weak, choky sob as I mull over its crumpled form in the midst of the rubble.

The almost impossibly tiny form of a dusty white kitten.

Dead.

From a single glance, my mind informs me that it has passed... from what looks like the vine knocking it to the side where it hit its head on the floor... breaking its fragile neck. I shakily move across the room until I'm standing almost over it as if I'm on autopilot.

I blink a few times, shell shocked by the incredibly delicate thing curled into a ball, its sad little form creating a large lump in my throat that forms from the coil of wispy silk in my chest. I'm surprised as I feel myself crouching down next to it as if I'm detached from my body- an outsider looking in- unconsciously going to scoop it up into my fingers. I suddenly come back to myself like a rubber band being snapped though, and I recoil from the kitten.

I scold myself, hating myself for even thinking I should pick up such an innocent thing. And my mind, once filled with unbridled rage and hatred towards everything and everyone minutes earlier, shudders with absolute sadness and sympathy as it processes the little, pure white ball of fur that used to be a living, breathing thing, reduced to nothing but a shell.

By me.

Something warm hits my thigh, and my head snaps up, barely being able to gaze at what I've done anymore and searching for something to distract it. Confusion rolls over me as I only spot a wall above me, missing any open hole for rain to reach through. And my breath hitches as the warmth I felt on my thigh runs down my right cheek in two, separate little streams. And I realize the source of the warm water is me.

I force myself to look back at the dead kitten at my feet as I throw my jacket off of my shoulders, being left in my cropped black top as I carefully, gently wrap the delicate thing into the inner, silky lining of the jacket and pull it up into my arms. The ache in my chest claws at my throat and all of my breath is stolen as even more tears constrict my breathing. I lose my balance as my voice cracks in anguish, and I fall back on my butt with my jacket cradled helplessly in my arms. I internally scream at myself as I almost touch the pure white fur of the kitten's ear and dirty it with the blood stained on my hands.

Thoughts stream in from seemingly nowhere. I hate who I am. I hate who I've become. And I hate everything about being a Samarin. Why was I cursed? Why was my family cursed? What did we do to be forced into being something that we never- EVER- chose to be? Superior? What is so fucking superior about being forced to cheat, lie, kill, and reject everything good? I wanted, finally, to be able to love. And this ability- what I AM- stole the whole possibility of a future away from me.

And just as soon as the thoughts start, they stop. I suddenly notice the foreign feeling inside of me, now thick and swollen as I tremble in somewhat of a limbo of sadness- rising and falling, allowing my sadness and caring emotions to come in waves through its coils, almost like an aurora-borealis.

And for a second I lose myself. "Why the fuck am I crying? Is it for this ugly little thing?" I feel detached as my head looks down at the kitten without my consent. The thought about throwing the useless body away from me crosses through the mind I lay somehow repressed in- which prompts me to scream and cry and beg for the presence that is controlling me to stop. It was innocent. It could have lived a thorough life, and I FUCKING KILLED IT.

And then I have control again.

My feet are on the floor and I'm flying towards the back of the house with the kitten tightly and carefully cradled within my arms. It needs to be properly buried. It needs to be recognized for the short but beautiful life it could have lived that was stolen away from it by me. It deserves it. And I deserve to do it.

Personally.

And I need to hurry, because I'll never know how long I can be myself.

I throw the back door open and throw myself into the grass behind the house, shielding the small mass with my entire body before rolling to a stop. I softly place the bundle in the grass and scrape at the still damp soil beneath my fingers. I rake up bits and clumps of dirt into a small pile beside me, cringing at the pain the rocks in the soil inflict upon my fingers as the soil overflows from under my bitten, nubby nails.

Once the hole seems deep enough, I gingerly work my fingers under the soft weight within my jacket fabric and lower it into the crudely dug grave. Closing my eyes for a second, I take in the mountain air around me, then exhale as if it is a memorial to the last, tiny breath the pure thing below me might have took, and I don't breathe once as I slowly push the loose, wet soil back into the tiny hole.

I gasp and gulp down breaths upon breaths of air into my lungs once I'm done. My eyes flutter and my head feels hazy, and... the wisp of feeling in my chest dwindles down into a fragment of what it once was before. As if fading away from me.

My breath hitches as I feel the mud starting to congeal in my throat again, and I use my last bit of strength to throw my body over the heap of dirt before me, willing with all of my heart to produce something in nature as some kind of marker, some kind of memorial to remember the life once taken.

And the thread moves from my chest, all the way down my bicep, across the soft inner skin of my elbow, down my forearm, and into the soil from my fingertips. 

Sacrificing my last bit of freedom from the evil inside of me to bring forth something so pure, that it makes white look disgustingly grimy.

A groan escapes my lips as I dig my nails into the soil beneath me, scowling at the mass constricting my throat. I wheeze slightly as I feel every bit of the uncomfortable warm ache I felt before snap away from me, filling my lungs with acid for a second before I feel my mind move back into my dark reality. I struggle to swallow for a second, and shove myself back up from the ground and into a sitting position. I'm finally able to swallow hard, sending the blockage down into my stomach like a two ton weight. I rub some disgustingly wet thing obscuring my vision away and throw my fist back into my lap.

I quirk a brow at the patch of freshly-fallen-snow colored mini-flora splayed out in front of me like a bold splotch against the whole mountain. The tiny roses almost wind together in a spiral, which I think is a slightly odd pattern for mini-flora to grow in, but I quickly disregard it as a heavy, burning scent wafts over me in a dense cloud.

I slowly turn to face the house, and immediately throw myself up off of the ground, my blood-orange colored eyes glinting in the unnatural light with intense fury.

The entire backside of the house is bathed in flames.

No. SHE must have done it. But she's tied up. Fuck- the weapon is going to burn down with my victory along with it! That dumb bitch!

I throw myself into a running speed and lurch up the stairs three at a time between patches of flame. I slam open the door to expect her sitting there, shying away from an open flame like the wimpy little bitch she is, but all I see is a tipped, purposely broken up chair lying next to what seems to be the original fire.

She is nowhere to be found.

A horrifying screech sounds out of my mouth as I realize she escaped, and it heightens in intensity as I spot the speeding form of a dark-cherry colored car careening away from the road directly below the house, and around the hill of the next mountain. And with my enhanced sight, I can just barely see the form of an arm sticking out of the driver's side window.

Flipping me off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So I'm getting a bit better at this, and I've posted about two hours earlier on Monday than last time (nevermind I just revised and ate dinner and it's now 10:30), but I would still kind of like to have my word count to be over 4,000. I constantly say word count doesn't matter- content does, but it still kiiiiinda bothers me. I just like to show you guys that I've put the effort in and to show that I'm not just slapping shit down onto a paper, and that every chapter has absolute relevance to the plot- whether you can see it yet or not. I really work my ass off, but I absolutely love doing it, so it's a'ight. That... actually seems a little sado-masochistic when I think about it, but whatevs.
> 
> Anyways, I thought I would slip in a few little hints in there using Sage as my plot device, and if you were a little confused- as usual, it will all be explained in later chapters. A.K.A. "All will be revealed in due time, dearie." -Anyone who's said it ever including me right now bub. I also just wanted to say that the part about the dead kitten really was hard to write, man. I absolutely adore cats, more so than any human usually, and I heavily debated over whether or not I wanted the "innocent thing" to be a puppy or a kitten, because for me no matter what the movie or book is about, if a cat dies in it, I'm sad as hell and will remember it only for that most of the time. But dead humans? PSHHHHH fuck that boi- humans are generally bumbling idiots, and there's 7 billion of 'em anyways. *le shrug*
> 
> Alright, hope you enjoyed a whole chapter of being in Sage's confused little mind. Thank you all for reading. :)


	25. Update Day Change. Blame AP Classes. (now 5)

I think I'm going to go ahead and switch my update day for Hitchhiker to Wednesdays because its in the middle of the week and gives me the weekend to do alllllll of my ap shit, because I'm actually writing when I reeeeeeally should be doing homework.

Plus, this chapter isn't even close to where I want it to be before it is published, and I still have three more things of homework to do for APWH aloneeeeee.

Hate me guys. I sure do. Blegh. See ya on Wednesday.


	26. Cognizant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry guys! I fell asleep at the keyboard twice last night, and didn't have time at school to post this until now. I just got home from my self-defense club, and I'm sorry for prolonging this chapter so much!!! Still I hope you like it. :)

 

**Masky's POV**

"But really? Are you sure I should re-enable the universal tracker? The dealership might flip shit and send cops to the location or set up some sort of barrier that she can't get through without-"

"I think it's safe to say that we're beyond this bullshit. Reactivate the damned trackers, BEN. It's obviously an emergency."

He grinds his teeth slightly and furrows his brows in a mix of worry and anger, but inevitably relents and twists around to face his computer, tapping a few keys then placing his hand on the screen after a few seconds. A resounding beep echoes about the room that turns into small blips like a sonar before he mutes the computer, and the google maps layout dons a new, red dot that fades in and out every few seconds.

A tangible silence fills the room with an oppressing air as BEN hovers over the dot and reads the information, and his expression morphs into horror. "The GPS marker hasn't moved since she got there this morning."

"What do you fucking mean the marker hasn't moved?" I growl, almost completely indifferent to his words because they confirm what I've been worrying about since (Y/n) left.

"What the fuck do you _think_ it means, genius? (Y/n) hasn't driven the car for almost three fucking hours!"

I twist around from looking over the couch and bury my head in my hands as I hunch my back and stare wildly at the floor through the cracks between my fingers. Worry floods over me on top of the already painful ache in my chest, and it hurts to breathe. Is she dead? What happened? Will I ever get to see her again? Was Slender right- is she working _with_ the Samarin and never even expected to come back home? Did she _ever_ even _like_ me? Did she care that I said I _trusted_ her?

The slew of horrible thoughts in my mind halt as rough hands jerk me up from my hunched position and squeeze my shoulders with such force, it rivals the pain of worry in my chest. EJ stares menacingly into my eyes and grits his teeth.

"Get a hold of yourself, Masky. She's alright. She's run through every game plan time and time again, and whatever shit she's got into, it's _just_ taking longer than expected for her to be able to dig herself out."

My back presses hard into the back edge of the couch, leaning into the exact spot where the fabric of the back of the couch and the padding on the front meet, and there is only a hard, uncomfortable edge that seems to almost dig into you against the other material. My expression shifts into uncertainty.

Maybe he's right. Maybe she's fine. Maybe she's run into something we didn't plan for- but _fuck,_ what _couldn't_ we have planned for? Unless... it was something that the rest of us here didn't want to plan for... maybe she ran through those other simulations to make it look like she was a team player. Maybe... _maybe_... she's actually working with them?

"But what if... Slenderman is right, Jack? She could have been playing us the whole time, and we would be none the wiser. After all, it's happened before, right under our noses-"

The fist comes before I can even react, which means he is seriously angry to be factoring his inhuman speed into the problem. I don't care. I probably deserve it. I shouldn't throw my trust around like it's some pointless, insignificant thing.

"You _fucking_ coward! Are you afraid to get hurt? To break your precious, fragile little heart? Look, I know you’ve been badly hurt by things in the past, but _she_ doesn’t deserve this shit from you. Not the (Y/n) _we_ know, anyways.” My breath gets uncomfortably stuck in my throat. “So, you stay on her _goddamn_ side until the day she ever betrays you, or you get fucking lost, got it? We went over this- she _isn't_ Sage _,_ she's someone that we care for, and _if_ we've been tricked, then too _fucking_ bad- her loss. You take the hit either way, buddy, so take it like a _fucking man_." He jabs his clawed finger into my chest, forgetting how sharp it is even with the heavy fabric of his gloves. I wince as it digs into my skin and rub my jaw, staring at the floor in shame as my body rocks back forward from him removing his finger from me.

But… he's right. Who the fuck am I to suddenly revoke the trust I put in her that she deserves? When things try your faith, you don't just give up and drop your beliefs because it's the easy route- that's not how you life your fucking life. I brace myself against the hard edge of the couch and look back up into the harsh black sockets where his eyes used to be- somehow still able to show pure emotion through them without the actual _eyes_ even being there.

A question hangs between him and I as he unconsciously favors the knuckles on his right hand with the edge of his thumb. I slowly nod, then turn back to BEN as he furiously types on his computer- trying desperately to try and see if the tiny blip on the screen is a mistake, and to try and find any more information.

Five sets of camera feeds pop up on the screen in the upper right hand corner, and as he shakily hovers over one, it expands to the entirety of the screen. We see a sunlight-littered, crumbling road through a thick line of trees on this one. He slowly moves to all of the others, but they yield little to no information as to where (Y/n) could be, or if there is any foul play. BEN types in a few more commands, then unmutes the screen and selectively mutes the tracker before opening a new window.

 

He takes out his phone and types in a number on his keypad, then watches screen as he commands the car to answer the phone call through the connection he has set up on the computer. Clicking the window on the screen he pulled up, he moves it and places next to the cameras. It has a single blue line through it against a black background, and as the car answers the phone call, little spikes rise from the line and continue to play out through the speakers on the computer.

 

BEN sets his phone on the table as we all watch him work in silent, repressed awe. All we can hear are the light sounds of the forest around the car through the now open windows of the car. We sit in silence for about a minute, staring at the cameras and listening to the audio for what seems like forever, listening for something, some sign that she's coming back...

 

And we get it.

 

A sudden, drawn out shriek that seems to drown the forest for a second, rendering everything else silent for a few seconds after the sound suddenly cuts short.

 

All of us take in a collective, horrified breath.

 

"Oh... oh _fuck_." Jack's voice is full of dread. He beats the rest of us to the punch- the words resting on our tongue like mercury. Heavy. Lethal. _Absolute_.

 

" _I'm going._ " My words redirect themselves- trying to get rid of the awful, heavy and metallic taste of unspecified truth out of my mouth.

 

"That's quite an impractical statement, Masky." I hear Slenderman say from behind me. I don't care to turn around and face him. He doesn't deserve my full attention.

 

"And _what_ do you want us to fucking do? Sit here and wait for another three hours, days, months for her to come back as a fucking corpse? She could still be alive right now- that could have been her- but if she isn't, I'm not going to wait for someone _else_ to bring her _back_ to _me._ "

 

"You would be wasting your life-"

 

"Does it _look_ like I _fucking_ care about what happens to me? She's obviously in danger, and if I can do _anything_ to prevent her from dying, or getting hurt, and get her back to _this house_ safe, then unlike you, I don't care what- it- will- take." I take a step with every break in my sentence, and by the time I'm done walking, I'm almost touching Slenderman, who follows my movements without moving his head, only the muscles around his eyes that give away where his gaze is centered around. "And what about you, why are you being so insensitive about it? She's helped us plenty of times before, and has proved she is worthy of our trust plenty of times, and we told you all we know about her- yet you still refuse to believe in her. Why? What's wrong with her? Is there something you know that we don't? Something you don't want to tell us?"

 

"Masky, _jesus,_ back _off_." EJ grabs my shoulder, but I yank it out of his grasp.

 

"No. I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me exactly _what_ you're hiding." Slender barely, yet noticeably flinches at the words, which causes my eyes to widen. So he really _is_ hiding something about it. I was mostly trying to press him into a corner for refusing to support helping (Y/n), but that little quirk is something that I've picked up in any being- that _specific_ reaction at that _specific_ time in a conversation, caused by someone accusing them of something they know they have done wrong and just don't want to admit- and Slender just did it.

 

He takes a step away from me, his face taut with what looks like slight fear and cornered hostility covered masterfully by a calm expression. I open my mouth to say something else, but EJ grasps my shoulder and yanks my body towards him.

 

"Goddammit Masky, this isn't the time. I'll go with you. Drop it- we have even bigger problems at the moment." He jerks his thumb back towards BEN on the couch, who looks terror stricken. "We heard another scream, and through the trees on the camera feed opposite the road, we saw her."

 

"You saw her?! What- why- _is she okay_?" I scramble for a specific question because so many flood my mind in a moment of panic.

 

EJ and BEN exchange looks, then turn to look back at me. I shift my eyes jerkily between the two of them, almost going into hysterics at their reactions. "Well... that depends on how you define 'okay'..." BEN murmurs as if he doesn't want to say it out loud.

 

EJ decides to continue as I look like I'm about to blow a gasket with how livid I am. "We saw her with someone else. It wasn't a clear picture, but... it looked... it looked like it was Sage."

 

My mouth drops open in shock. My mind wants to jump to the possibility that they might be working together in my frantic mind, but I block it. It's painful in two ways, one: being that Sage is merciless and brutal, and two: that means she _really_ might have been out to betray me from the beginning. Before I can say anything, EJ continues. "And she was screaming in _pain_ , Masky. Whoever it was took a hold of her arms and, I think, harshly dislocated them, then we saw them push her out of the frame and back in the direction of the safe house. It looks like she's being tortured, but holding out. She's still _alive_."

 

"But we don't know for how much longer. You need to go now if you're going." BEN pitches back over the couch at me with a hard, convicting, yet faintly worried look.

 

EJ mirrors his expression, and it makes its way onto my face as I turn to face Slenderman. His shoulders tense and his jaw clenches behind the white, stretched skin over his face.

 

"You are walking right into a trap. You know this is not a rational solution. Mister Nyras, you are our only doctor; Masky, our best honed killer and stalker. We can't afford to lose you-"

 

"But we _can_ afford to lose her?"

 

" _I did not say that-_ "

 

EJ takes the initiative in accusing Slenderman this time, backing me up. "Is it because of the possibility of her being a Samarin or in any way related to one? You know, you only started acting this way towards her once you tied her to them. You've always been wary of them, good or bad. You _banished_ Mira to the mountains instead of working her around the barrier."

 

" _WELL WHAT DID YOU WANT ME TO DO? PUT US- EVERY ONE OF YOU AT_ RISK _BECAUSE YOU WANTED SOMEONE TO HELP YOU_ COPE _? WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE PEOPLE HERE, OR EVEN THE_ ONE _THAT PROTECTS YOU HERE, HUH? JACK? DO YOU WANT ALL OF THIS HARD WORK TO GO TO WASTE?_ " Slender's tentacles whip violently in the air behind him, and he leers down at us with his teeth bared and peeking through the bloodied skin around his mouth. His chest rises and falls jerkily, and the waving black masses behind him suddenly freeze, then slowly sway as he realizes his outburst. His whole entire demeanor changes back into the gentlemanly shtick, but it's broken- unable to piece fully back together. He fumbles for something to say in order to reconcile for it, but the attempt falls through.

 

The rest of us are too shell shocked and confused to notice his anxiety over his words before it fades into his somewhat normal state. He opens his mouth again before we can say anything else, the expression on his face strict and hard now.

 

"I am capable of teleporting you both to a location that is closer to the safe house so you do not have to go to a marked spot and drive for an hour. If you need to come back, just hold the thought in your mind. I will know. I will stay dormant in your minds just in case something goes wrong." He turns to BEN. "Keep watching the cameras and audio. Report anything to me _immediately_ through mindspeak." He then strides forward and stands in front of both EJ and I, then frowns down at us and places his hands on our shoulders without warning, as if cutting all potential conversation off about his outburst.

 

"Good luck." It's all he says before we are roughly deposited onto rocky earth as if we are suddenly shot through an air-soft gun, and left to our thoughts just outside of the village (Y/n) was supposed to drive through.

 

EJ and I both exchange exasperated looks, then pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and desperately try to cleanse our minds of thoughts about Slenderman.

 

Just as EJ said, we have bigger problems than him right now.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So now we know Slender's hiding something from us, and isn't all that he seems to be. He's not going to be the "bad guy" per say, but just someone that used to be. Sorry if that's a little confusing, I'm just trying to keep it cryptic so I don't spoil anything. Beyond that, Masky and EJ are my favorite dudes, man. Hope you liked, and will disregard my late chapters this week. And remember, NEXT UPDATE IS WEDNESDAY OF NEXT WEEK!!!!


	27. Hijacker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Longer chapter for tonight. Hope you enjoy and forgive me for the late night updates. :)

 

**Regular POV:**

I let out a whoop of triumph as I round the mountainside and move out of Sage's line of sight. All I can do is hope that she saw me flipping her off as I left because god would it be funny to see the look on her face as she saw me speeding away. After the high of it wears off after a few seconds, I automatically go to press the call button on the monitor next to me, only to see that I have been in a call for almost an hour and a half.

"Hello?" I warily say into the speaker as I start to climb over yet another small range of mountains. Nothing happens for almost a minute, and the only sound I can hear is the soft hum of the engine and my soft, but still slightly spiked heartbeat in my chest.

Suddenly a small sound comes through the audio system that sounds like someone mumbling to themselves as they move towards the speaker, which is then followed by the telltale sound of the couch springs creaking from being sat on. I can only think of one person that would be on the other side of the technology.

"BEN? Who is this?"

The crash of a plate being dropped on wooden floor explodes through the speakers of my car, making me jump and veer the car slightly. "(Y/N)?!" BEN says on the other line.

"Yeah... I'm here. Hit a few obstacles, to say the least." I humorlessly laugh.

"Are Masky and Hoodie with you? Did you see them?" The disparity in his tone shocks me into silence for a couple seconds, then sends me reeling into a panicked confusion.

"...What? No? Oh no. They didn't-"

"...They did. They left around 45 minutes ago, they should be getting to the safe house right about now."

I slam my foot on the breaks and grip the leather on the steering wheel so hard, my fingernails jab into the material and scrape at it. "WHY THE FUCK WOULD THEY LEAVE?!"

"We were worried you were going to fucking die! It had been almost three. Fucking. Hours. (Y/n). You can't blame us."

I'm doing a three point turn without really even thinking about it, and once I'm turned back around, I take a quick deep breath and floor it. "You better not care about the condition of this car when you put it back because I'm going to be flying down this hill with at least 80 miles per hour on the speedometer in a few seconds."

"WAIT!!!" He yells into the speaker, and it resounds throughout the interior of the car, making me flinch at the extremely loud noise he makes again and hesitantly stop the car. Before I can ask, he rushes his words out and sounds like he picks up the computer and starts running. "Slenderman said that he would be able to teleport them back because he regained some of his abilities when you left, and he told me to report to him through mindspeak if something happened." He stops for a couple of seconds and stays in silence, but then growls and rushes out, "but fuck, it- hah- isn't working."

My heart plummets at the notion. I really must have been unconsciously using interception and weakening them. I can't put into words how much I didn't want what Sage had said to be true. I worry my lip a bit painfully between my teeth. My heart flutters erratically in my chest like a caged butterfly, causing me to grasp at the fabric of my tank top over my chest. What will I do when we get back? Where will I go? Obviously I can't stay at the house anymore if I'm the sole reason they're unprotected and risking their lives in the first place. I clench my jaw and try to block everything out to try and focus on saving my friends.

"BEN?"

"I'm getting there- ugh- fuck why is his office so far away from the living room? Just- stay there, please." He struggles with his breathing for about twenty seconds more before the sound of knocking and a door opening comes through. "Sir, the mindspeak-" He cuts off, and I almost ask myself if he has accidentally hung up into what I think is nothing but thin air, but a small bang resounds through the car as if the computer has been dropped. "That fucker. I'm sorry. You have to go back, I don't know where he is, and if we're on the same page, you need to get there ASAP."

My jaw is set and my foot is pressed against the floor in less than a second, and I'm speeding back around the mountain and down the hill. I can't help but think that I'm running headfirst into my inevitable death, but I can't help but think about Sage hurting Masky and EJ in the same way she did with me, but this time without the ability to rapidly regenerate. A long shiver stems from my core and moves outwards and all across my body at the notion. I try to stem the flow of thoughts that make me squirm and gnaw even harder at my lip, but it has little to no effect.

"I'll stay with you in the car- I have the camera's and the speaker going. Do you still have your phone?"

"No-" I pull into the shade of the trees and pull slightly off of the road so Sage can't see me coming back- if she is even looking, anyways. "S-sage stole it from m-me."

I curse the quiver in my tone; half from fear of going back and never being able to escape, and half from the bumpiness of my off-road travel. BEN sounds like he slams his hand on the surface next to the computer and angrily growls something under his breath. He then snatches up his computer and starts moving down the hallways again, muttering things that I can't quite hear well enough to pinpoint what he is saying.

My heart goes from its place in my lower stomach to back up in my chest, then shoots past it and wedges itself in my throat. I pull back into the valley of grass at the bottom of the hill the safe house is at and stare fearfully back up at the trees. I heighten my hearing- no matter how painful it is- to the highest frequency I can get to try and hear what is happening in there, and just when I feel like I'm not going to pick up anything with the wind blowing all around me and through the dead leaves of the forest, I hear two sets of footsteps somewhere up the slope. They are entirely too close to the safe house for my liking, especially because I can hear Sage growling curses and breaking things from the interior.

My feet are rapidly pounding at the ground below me before I can think of any plans. If she sees them, they're dead. If she sees me, I'm probably going to have to regrow every one of my limbs. If she sees both me and the boys... she'll kill them in front of me. She has no reason to keep them alive except to torture them in front of me if she wants to.

With my mind muddled with thoughts and my unconscious mind set only on trying to stay quiet so Sage doesn't hear me, I accidentally clip one of the larger trees with my shoulder, which sets off so many alarms in my mind that were trying to keep me quiet, that my head feels like it almost explodes. I tuck inwards and roll painfully to a stop, jerking back up immediately as soon as I'm physically able.

As my left foot flies forward to take a step towards the general direction of where I heard the grouped footsteps- which I have lost by now due to the impossibility of being able to fully concentrate on three things at once right now- I find myself reeling back against the tree I had hit as someone moves in front of me.

I suck in a huge amount of breath, but just barely stop my scream as I realize that it isn't Sage, but Masky. He looks incredibly relieved for a second even with his mask obscuring his face, but as he turns to say something to EJ- who I spot standing feet away- it suddenly switches to bewildered as I smack a hand over the painted mouth of his mask. He jumps in pain but gets the hint through the almost feral, crazed look in my expression silently screaming for him to stay silent. I remove my hand and jab my finger down the hill towards the car, ordering to get back down there through rage and terror filled desperation.

"(Y/n), ya came back? And decided to bring your little fuck buddies with ya this time? Aw, what a sweet- little- cunt."

My heart shrinks inside of my chest and takes my now dysfunctional lungs with it, but regardless I scream for both EJ and Masky to run as I whirl around with a fierce, dead-set punch to her throat. She catches it with a simple flick of her wrist, and I find my fingernails digging into the clenched flesh in the palm of my hand. Her simpering grin starkly contrasts with the horrible, grimacing scowl on my face.

I unclench my fist and move past her hand to lurch forward and wrap my arm around her elbow, violently jerking my arm up to where I can hear the echoing snap of her bones breaking. Her eyebrow twitches, but her expression doesn't change. She's looking at my neck- trying to keep her peripheral on every move I might make, but she expects another attack on her torso. I don't give her what she wants and step forward, just past her torso, and slam my hip into the soft space just behind and above her hip bone, loading her weight onto it while still gripping her limp arm. I throw my other hand onto her shoulder and kick my leg back, knocking her knees forward and throwing her while using my hip as leverage. It's really too fast for her to stop it or even react. When she does, she tries to grab for my clothes, but she only scrapes the ends of her nubby fingertips against the skin of my stomach, now exposed from her body hiking up my tank top.

I know that with these first two moves gaining little to no resistance from her, she is definitely going to come at me hard once she gets the opening. I keep an eye on her. In the couple of seconds that she is busy falling, I use the time to check where the boys are. They guessed I was pointing to the road apparently and took off as soon as they got the okay; trusting I could hold my own if I have already so far.  Good. No idiotic damsel in distress shit anymore. Always gets in the way.

I grin. Sage smirks. I'm on the ground. She's hovering over me. I'm gasping for air.

"What's it been, ten minutes? You wanna come back so quick? Only reasons I can think o' ya coming back is 'at you love ta getcha ass kicked or ya wanna add me inta the fun." The accent seems foreign to me for a second, now noticing the change as she peers into my eyes from less than two inches away. It's like she has alienated herself from the one I had been seeing, which was- now I realize- different; rougher and less organized. The realization strikes me for only a couple of seconds because of its oddity, but it quickly snaps to the back of my mind as she reels her arm back to throw a punch down at my jaw.

It hits dirt as I jerk my head to evade it, and I take the second of shock her arm goes through from the recoil in hitting the ground to clasp my hands together and swing them as hard as I can against her temple. She hisses and falls to the side from the force, allowing me to flip her onto her back and continue to punch her.  
  
  
  


I kind of overdo it- but the emotion that rushes through me is too much for me to keep bottled up for this opportunity. All the degradation, all the suffering, and all the absurdity that is  _Sage_  that I've been exposed to washes over me like a maelstrom of emotion that can't simply be stopped by willing it to stay where it is- but I don't much mind letting it crash through me and slam into her face time and time again.

 

Only after about the twentieth punch do I finally realize that I have somehow knocked her out- noticeable because the maniacal laughing that was pouring from her mouth suddenly stops, and her breathing stays slow and shallow. I stare down at her, breathing heavily and jerkily, waiting for her to fly up from the ground and headbutt me or beat me over the head with some rock I failed to notice, but she stays down- her face cocked at an unnatural angle and soaked in blood.

 

I take in a sharp breath after a few seconds and throw myself up from the ground, not hesitating to spit at her unconscious form before taking off back down the slope again. I want to hurry- who knows how long she could be unconscious for.

 

I hear Masky talking to BEN through the phone and asking EJ if they should come up to help from not too far away. He stops talking when he sees me through a thinner patch of trees, and moves to turn on the ignition, then opens the passenger seat door for me. I throw myself in and just barely get the door shut before he slams his foot down on the pedal and makes me hit my head on the console between us somehow. Just as I straighten myself up in my seat and go to grab my seat belt so I won't die from blunt force trauma, I notice some vines at the edge of the road about 100 feet away accumulating together and rising up in a heaping mass as if it is forming an unnatural amalgamation of what look somewhat like people. I stare at them for a second as they seem to evade Masky's line of sight, then open my mouth to tell him to turn around or at least stop, but before I can, the vines shoot out to meet together in the middle of the road, then hook and almost bounce off of each other like water. I go to scream at Masky to stop, but he is going too fast to evade them. Suddenly there is glass raining down on me from the front windshield and the car feels suddenly too cramped as I feel myself pitching forward- not just because of the sudden stop, but because the tail end of the car goes ass over teakettle and slams into the neglected and already worn road below us before any of us get the chance to get thrown out of the now gaping windshield.

 

There's an intense ringing in my ears, and my head hurts like hell, and I feel like collapsing into a heap and staying there for the rest of my days, but somehow I dredge up enough strength to flip onto my back as I lay on the roof of the car and unlatch Masky's seat belt, carefully remove his mask from the steering wheel, and drag him out through the windshield- cutting my exposed legs on the glass below me. Once I get him out of the toppled car and onto the road, I look back to EJ to make sure he gets out okay, and find that he is dusting himself off from the shards of glass littering the road he had to crawl through.

 

"Did'ya think I would let ya get away from me again? Are ya really  _that_ stupid?" I see Sage come out of the trees in my peripheral as I struggle to hoist Masky onto my shoulder. She seems like she is struggling to stay up for a second, but leans into one of the larger trees along the roadside and seems to draw life out of it; becoming seemingly stronger as the tree withers and its bark starts turning to an ashy-grey pigment.

 

My eyes widen. She must use up a lot of energy using so much power like that anyways, but along with my interception ability, it weakens her more by incredibly vast amounts. But she can re-purpose the energy of the things belonging to her element of power and use it for herself. So all I have to do to eliminate the main threat that she poses is to get her to stay in the middle of the road and use up all of that energy to buy time for BEN to find Slender.

 

"EJ take him." I growl.

 

I stalk forward, bringing a pleased smirk to Sage's face. "What do you think you are going to do? You have no escape route now, and you can't leave behind your buddies. You have  _nothing_. You can do  _nothing_."

 

"Oh, if you're so sure that I can't do anything to you, why are you hiding back in the trees? Are you afraid? Is the  _wittle pussy bitch_ not so tough fighting a losing battle in front of her  _wittle crush_?" Sage frowns and almost immediately starts stalking towards me. I glance back at EJ, who looks like he thinks I'm insane. Making sure Sage doesn't see, I mouth 'Keep her away from the trees if you can, and keep him away too.' I gesture to Masky and make sure I'm keeping an eye on Sage from the corner of my vision. He nods and props him up against the car, then takes shelter behind it along with him and peeks through the broken windows to look for any openings.

 

Sage moves to where she is almost at the dotted yellow lines on the middle of the road before I move forward to feign an attack. She raises her hand to call up the vines laying almost ten feet away on the road that were previously dormant. I duck out of the way of the explosive attack that slams into the ground where I was seconds previous. I land a bit of a love-tap to her shoulder and skirt around her, watching her eyes and body movement to make sure I know exactly what will come next.

 

She retaliates with the vines again, this time breaking them apart into three sections and coming at me from all angles. I make sure she notices my movements to the left, and she accelerates the speed of the vines to hit to my left, while I pivot and slam myself to the ground to roll to my right. Because the vines' trajectory was off, the vines above me miss and instead zoom past my head.

 

Sage huffs and takes in a few hard breaths, her exhaustion obvious as she moves her feet to hold her up in a steadier position. She glances to her side, where the car is, and my eyes widen as she goes to move her hand. I hurriedly jerk my leg out to touch the vines next to me as they start to shudder and rise, and will with all of my being that they fail her and render her powerless so she can't crush them under the car.

 

The small mass of twisted vines near me stop shuddering like the other two, but don't start decaying like they did the other time. Sage snaps her head towards me and flicks her hand towards me in a silent rage that seems to have heightened from seconds before. I go to roll out of the way, but they are so quick that they are on me in a second.

 

I slam my eyelids shut out of habit, and hold my arms in front of me defensively, waiting for them to slam into me and flatten me into the road, or at the very least send my rib cage into my lungs and break every one of them, but it doesn't come.

 

I crack open an eyelid and hesitantly look out in front of me as Sage yells in unbridled rage. The vine I had touched and willed to stop working has flipped around and blocked both of the other vines, which had twisted to where they looked like large drills that now pierce halfway through the vine shielding me and rest inches away from my face. 

 

My mouth drops open in absolute shock. I thought I had the power to intercept her power in the sense that I block her from using it, but it seems like I intercepted and took control of her ability for my own. 


	28. Of Broken Things

A large grin works its way onto my face, and I search around inside myself to find the foreign feeling of her ability. A small clump of what feels like a ball of wet yarn shivers within my chest, and seems familiar to the stored energy already within me that enables me to use interception. Except my own energy feels like dense metal coils of power stored with potential energy stuffed into every single part of my body. I feel as if I can use it the same way if I concentrate more, letting it selectively and slowly spill out of me, like a cup that is being tipped, or more like turning on a jet-stream water hose- direct and in my control for the most part.

 

As I direct my thoughts towards moving it, the vine in front of me slashes out and takes the other two with it, struggling, but succeeding in tearing all of the bunched together vines from their origins in the trees and ripping them towards the road. Once pulled, the other two vines fall slightly limp, then sink down and away from the one I am trying to control. I attempt to gently set mine down next to the other two, but it jerkily slumps into a coiled heap.

 

Sage grumbles to herself- the word "glare" taking up a whole new meaning in her expression of lividity. It seems that she didn't know a thing about this part of my ability, and she is _not_ pleasantly surprised. I move my eyes to EJ, who seems shocked beyond words, and is now barely holding himself up from looking over the back edge of the car, which I assumed he moved to as he saw her start to direct the vines to him. Masky now groggily crouches beside him, but is a little too out of it to notice what just happened.

 

Proud of my new discovery in my ability, I feel the need to know in the instant what EJ thinks of this event that seems incredible and awesome in my eyes.

 

The smile leaves my face. He looks completely terrified. Of me. Not Sage. He's not looking at Sage. He's looking directly into _my_ eyes and staring at _me_.

 

And that's why he doesn't see her using the last bit of her borrowed energy to stretch the limbs of the tree closest to him... down towards the car in clusters... forming into a large ball that slams into the car right in front of them.

 

I scream. Out of rage, heartbreak, hysteria- I don't know. My brain can barely process any of my emotions in the few seconds of uncertainty.

 

Seconds of madness cause my mind to unravel into a jumbled, tangled mass, but somehow my mind snaps back to reality as I notice that force miraculously doesn't hit them, but knocks them back into the trees, which Sage openly grins about at first before attempting to lift the mass of limbs back up, then stumbling and letting it drop back down. She's toying. I shakily pick my vine up again, this time only out of intense anger instead of lack of control, and thrust the mass towards her in unbridled rage, yet careful precision- at which I jeeringly ask myself of how precise and careful I can get with a huge ass vine that probably weighs one ton or more.

 

Fortunately for me, pretty precise.

 

It stays in her blind spot until it's suddenly wrapping around her body and constricting her movements. I can see her struggling, and I can almost feel it myself as the bundle of unnatural energy within me cringes and becomes slightly unstable for a few seconds before I will it to stay in my control.

 

The vine secures her in the middle of the road, and I make sure she can't take control of it, or anything else again for a few seconds before rushing over to the boys. They lay groaning in the ravine on the side of the road, still in the odd positions they landed in.

 

"Are you guys alright?"

 

"Shouldn't you be paying attention to _her_ more than us?" EJ snaps. There's a hint of pain in his tone- emotional pain- but most of it is accusative and cold. I recoil slightly before frowning at him. Masky looks at him through the corner of his jarred mask with what I can imagine is confusion, but he doesn't say anything.

 

I bite my lower lip, furrowing my brows in concern and slight anger at the two for putting themselves in danger by coming here, then turn back around. I want to get angry at Jack too, but how can I? When I've seen him relapse into the intense and destructive feelings brought about by Sage once before, now caused by me as he realizes our similarities? I scrunch my eyes shut for a second and shake my head to get my thoughts to quit pestering me. We'll find a way to make up sometime later, but that time is definitely not now.

 

I force myself to walk back onto the road. Sage seems like she thinks if she struggles hard enough, she will be able to take control of her ability from me, but I can tell that she has used all of her energy up, and most of the last of it she had, I stole from her with interception.

 

I sneer. I could see myself in the exact same position less than an hour previous, and it's _infuriating_. "It isn't very fun, is it? To be tied up, to feel powerless, to want beyond anything else to escape... Didn't you say that this was a pleasant way to end the day- with me coming back? How do you feel about that now?" I move closer and closer to her with every word I say until I am face to face with her. She spits at me, but I simply dodge and tighten the vines a little. "I can see how you got to be this viciously hateful and self-absorbed. This is a pretty powerful ability." I say it mostly to antagonize her and to remind myself out loud what my priorities and morals are, because with this much power, you can easily lose sight of them.

 

I lessen up on the vines, but still keep them tight around her. Using more of the energy I got from her, I use the mass of branches she used to smash the car to sweep the glass and spare parts from the totaled vehicle off into the side of the road so it is out of the way.

 

I keep the energy- smaller now because of the effort it took to move things around with the plants- focused on the vines around her as Masky and EJ climb back onto the road and walk towards me. Jack glares at me the whole way, and stays a good few feet back, the distrusting look evident on his face from his posture and the way he breathes, but conflict shows in his eyes as well. I know what he's thinking. He doesn't know what I am exactly just yet, and is assuming I'm a full Samarin, so he is rightly afraid that I might decide to kill him with my newfound abilities in the next second.

 

Masky keeps moving where Jack stops, barely giving him a glance as he passes him, and moving directly towards me. He seems a little confounded at my control over the plants and Sage, but too worried and relieved to care, and he doesn't stop walking until his chest hits mine and he has me tightly and securely wrapped up in his arms.

 

I stay paralyzed against him for a few seconds in shock, barely believing that I'm finally being allowed to see him, to touch him again, without any strings attached or any hidden intentions. I sink into his shoulder, burying my face into the warmth of his neck and wrapping my arms around his chest. I almost feel like crying now that this is finally over, but we both know that we can't really rest until we are back within the safety of our home.

 

And right now, I want nothing more than to curl up on the couch next to the guys and take a nap.

 

He hesitantly pulls away from me and places a hand on the side of my head, threading through my hair with his gloved fingers for a second before turning to face EJ again.

 

Sage smirks as EJ glares menacingly at her, the animosity towards her clear.

 

" _Nice to see you again, Jacky._ " She sneers. "Don't mind cuntface over here," she nods her head towards me, "we ‘ere just having a little family reunion. I ‘as just going to let her get back to her little fuck-friends again, but it seems like you already came here to try and rescue her. You always manage to _royally_ fuck up things, don't you _Jacky?_ What is this now, the second time? So naive, and so trusting, and so _easy_ -"

 

"Shut the fuck up, Sage. I'm _nothing_ like you, and I never _will_ be." I clench my fist to tighten the vines, then turn away from her and Jack and start walking away a little so I can clear my mind with answering the questions about the extent of my abilities.

 

As I move towards the trees I look back over my shoulder. "Can you two use your phones to contact BEN? He said he was looking for Slenderman to teleport us back when I left him." Masky nods at me and reaches for his phone, but Jack barely acknowledges my words, seemingly in some state of narcosis.

 

I worriedly shake my head at him and turn back around. I get it. I really do. As he connects more of my dots with Sage's, he's probably overloaded in trying to analyze everything. I wouldn't be surprised if he hates me right now, but all I can hope is that he sees I'm not like her at all, no matter how many lines and dots he fucking connects between the two of us.

 

Sighing, I crouch down and place my hand against the base of a tree trunk like Sage did before. I mute my thoughts and concentrate, feeling around inside of myself for the little hard bundle of energy that almost seems to clot in my chest like a benign tumor, then try to channel it to where it unravels to connect to the tree. After it reaches my fingertips, I can feel the invisible threads grow onto the tree like tiny roots, then establish a connection with it. I slowly will the tree to give me some energy, which I can detect inside of it, and the bundle within me starts to feel like it is raveling more energy into itself.

 

After restoring a little of the energy for my borrowed ability I move my hand down to the soil near the tree and feel around in the ground for any of the similar energy like I did with the tree. As I close my eyes, it's as if I'm seeing behind my eyelids that there are little dots of light in the ground near me, some large, some small. I reach towards one of the smaller ones and connect my energy with it, unraveling my energy towards it one way while continuing to maintain the connection with the vines around Sage.

 

Once I connect the two, I move towards where the energy is along the side of the road by following the trail and raveling it back up again as I go. I stoop down and gently run my finger over the petal of one of the tiny white roses clustered together in a small patch, and suddenly feel the slightly jittery and unstable energy inside of me immediately calm and go from feeling heavy and brittle, to light and wispy.

 

I panic for a second at the sudden change and jump up to look towards Sage, thinking she has escaped the vines I have wrapped around her, but she has stayed put and angrily silent. The energy in me shudders and starts to sag again as if being doused in water, but as I confusedly crouch down towards the plant to touch it again, it returns to it's silky light feeling.

 

I quirk an eyebrow at it and bring my other hand to my chest in confusion. I take my hand off and put my hand back on the flowers several times, noticing that the feeling is almost imbued with some type of darkness or evil on its own, and when I touch the flowers its as if only the evil part of it dissipates and leaves every other defining thing about it still there within the energy bundle- a feeling which seems to be a genetic marker of sorts.

 

I wonder for a second if it has something to do with how a Samarin can only be purely evil and purely good, but something about it doesn't seem right. The energy I feel when touching the flowers doesn't seem purely good- it almost blends in with my own type of energy that fills me completely, but is still slightly distinguishable.

 

So in other words, it is completely normal; half-good, half-bad, sometimes slighted, but always containing both.

 

"(Y/n), BEN says Slender is ready to teleport us." I shake my thoughts away and jump up, moving back to Masky and EJ. Masky gives a sidelong glance to Jack, who seems to have reevaluated his glaring, but still warily eyes me from his spot next to him. Once I move up to the both of them, I nod and turn my eyes to Sage, who seems uncharacteristically quiet, yet still seems enough like herself to hock up a bunch of nasty phlegm and spit it at my feet.

 

I quirk my brow in amusement at her then turn my attention back to the boys. "What else did he say?"

 

"Apparently he was waiting at the mile border because he... he doesn't..."

 

"He doesn't?"

 

I move my eyes from Masky to EJ, who hurriedly looks away for a second, then thinks about it, sighs, and then looks back up to meet my eyes. "He doesn't trust you anymore."

 

Lots of reminders of why he wouldn't trust me flood through my mind, but I simply press my lips tightly together and nod. The reality of it and everything that happened slams into me all at once, and my shoulders slump down. But... I expected it. After all, he placed his trust in me to bring back seven refugee Creepypastas safe and sound and look what happened? And I mean, how could someone as tactful and observant as him _not_ notice that the interference with their abilities only happened when I was around them and draw connections? And even if he _did_ still trust me after all of this, how could I stay at the house? 'Obviously I can't stay at the house anymore if I'm the sole reason they're unprotected and risking their lives in the first place.' I remember thinking that exact _same_ thing less than an hour ago. But coupled with the revelation that I am the same type of being that has them cooped up in little safe houses everywhere as _refugees_ means a whole lot worse. The thing I was afraid of- that I'm too much of a danger to the Creepypastas for them to trust me really at _all_ anymore- has finally happened, and there's nothing I can do about it besides try to steadily earn their trust again.

 

Some. _Fucking_. How.

 

The two seem slightly surprised at my resignation to it, but don't say anything, even when Sage starts snickering.

 

"Oh what a _pity_. Can't go back to that house now, sweet'art- might as well try'n shack up in another with some other poor Cuntypasta fucks or stay here and wait for your sister ta rip ya to shreds." I fight the urge to slam her face into a nearby tree trunk until she revives herself again, but I let it pass and scrunch my eyelids together in annoyance instead.

 

"Does he have my stuff?"

 

"Yeah..." BEN says through the phone, "he wants to know if you are ready to come back now." I can hear the soft undertone of pity in his voice even through the phone. I huff, then go ahead and use the last of my borrowed power to move Sage as far away from us as the vine will reach before setting her down. She starts running as I give the okay through the phone, but before she can take more than three steps, I can already feel the air sucking around me. I give her one last glare before I feel my feet sink into soft grass while the tiny mass of energy in my chest violently snap out of my body.

 

When I blink my eyes open again, they soberly train upon the tall being in front of me who hesitantly but accusingly holds my stare. I reach out and take my bag from his long-fingered right hand without breaking the stare. In the simple movement, I bury all of my emotions- receding into my body to hide behind reasoning and logic.

 

But I'm already shaking.

 

"Before I go, I would like to make some things clear. Your accusations towards me almost got all three of us killed, and even though I was happy to see these two, you should never have let them come for any reason, _no matter what_." I pause for a second, making sure that he is definitely listening while I still hold my conviction. "The only thing that saved my life and _their_ lives was the fact that I am apparently half Samarin, which I had not known until today. I want you to know that I never had any intention of harming you or anyone else in this house while I knew I was Samarin or not. And the abilities that came with it, I had apparently been unintentionally using on all of you, and as of right now, I still do not know how to control it, so, while I thank you for your hospitality until now, we both know I can't stay here any longer. It just isn't safe for anyone. I respect your decision to protect everyone here, however I can't say that I am at all happy about being homeless."

 

I take a few breaths, then close my eyes and continue. "As for the Creepypastas that were at the safe house in Liechtenstein, they were all slaughtered by Sage before I got there. I was captured and tortured for hours upon end and held alive for the sole purpose that my ability of "interception" could have been used to weaken everyone here to the point where Sage could kill all of you."

 

He sucks in a sharp breath, but I continue- the words flowing from me the only things keeping me from falling to the ground and staying there. "I promise you, that if I can help it, that will never happen. I have people I want to protect here too," I glance at Masky, then let my eyes rest on Jack, "whether they want me too or not." His eyes widen- filled now with only regret- and he goes to say something, but I simply return my gaze to Slenderman, then politely nod. "I'm sorry if you feel as if you placed your trust in the wrong person, but now, if you'll excuse me, I have to look for a new place to stay. Goodbye."

 

I turn on my heels and stand there for a few seconds in despair. I'm screaming inside at Slender to forgive me, regardless, and let me stay, I'm screaming at Jack to pull some of that infinite knowledge out of his ass and tell me how to restrict my ability so it doesn't affect them as well as to forgive me so we can go back to the way were were before, and I'm screaming at Masky to forgive me for breaking my promises and his trust- I threw myself into impossible situations and I didn't stay safe at all, but most of all I'm screaming into thin air, to the universe, or whoever made me what I am and asking them why I'm going through this alone, but silent pleading receives silence in return. 

 

However, the silence outside allows me to listen to what is inside of me. A heart; still beating, still fighting. _I'm_ still alive. Even after the torture I endured and the strength it took when I was alone to get through it all, it still beats. And I remember that if no one else can help me right now- whether they desperately want to or not- I must help myself.

 

I know I can be strong, but that doesn't mean it hurts any less.

 

I force myself to start walking. I want to look back at any one of them for any support, but I know that as soon as I do, every barrier I put up to protect myself is going to come crumbling down, and I'm going to completely break. And I want them to see me right now, as I'm leaving them for who knows how long, that I'm strong and to still have a little faith that I will be okay. Still, tears are already silently rolling down my face as I hike my bag up onto my shoulder a little more.

 

And even when I hear both Jack and Masky angrily and desperately struggling with Slender, trying to move past his arms and run towards me...

 

I still don't look back.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Bit of a depressing end to this one, things just seem to get worse and worse, but I promise that it will get better very soon. I know a lot of you (including me) would want to be allowed to stay in the house with all of the guys, but until interception can be controlled to where it doesn’t affect anyone in the house, it would be too much of a liability for everyone right now. Also, I was going to have this up by 2 in the afternoon, but did about two hours of heavy revising and fell asleep, then went back to school for clubs and got home to do more revising. Sorry I'm such shit at uploading times, but at least I have an update day that I somewhat stick to, amirite?
> 
>  
> 
> Also, this signifies the end of the first book or arc or whatever, however to keep things a bit more fluid, I will go ahead and keep it in the same place. This new arc is going to be called “Hijacker”- at least by me- because the reader has moved on from just being a “Hitchhiker”, to moving a bit more into knowing who she is and where she is going instead of just being a bit of a drifter in the CP and Samarin world she has been exposed to. Hope you’ll stick with me and continue to give me feedback- it’s hard to tell how well things run together or if things don’t make sense from an author’s perspective, so I’d love to hear anything you have. Thanks again guys! :)


	29. Sagacity

It's odd how silent the forest is around me once I move completely out of range from the border around the safe house. Even with the wind continuously blowing air through the leaves in the trees and the regular creaks and groans of the looming evergreens littered around me, it's as if I have cotton stuffed deep into my ears. I guess with all of the excitement this morning, the constant stream of white noise pouring through my ears gave me something to hold onto, but this piercing absence of noise makes the space around me seem incredibly surreal.

 

But then again, just about everything seems a bit like a nightmare right now; seeming unreal with how absurd everything around me seems to be- compared to how my life was before, but still absolute enough with the crushing weight of all of this negativity and pain. Really I just want to wake up from this at home, curled up and safe, without a care about Samarin or Creepypastas, or broken promises and trust, and just live a completely boring and uneventful day again. Maybe just to get one last dull breakfast consisting of eating dry cereal on the couch with a warm blanket wrapping my sister and I into a cocoon for an hour or two as we watch random cartoons or shows. Hell, at this point, I really wouldn't mind if Lilly conjured another dreamscape where I wake up and go through hell again, just to get those few minutes of peaceful, ordinary life back. But then again, I also don't really  _want_  to be choked to death, even with the comfort- if you can even call it  _that_ \- of knowing that I won't  _really_  die.

 

I step out of the denser, more shadowed part of the forest and into a thinner patch where sunlight finally trickles through the canopy towards the ground level. My mind clears a little as sunlight speckles my face with soft flecks of gold. I relax, but there’s still a tense, heavy ache in my muscles as I continue to walk up the sun littered slope. It’s not from the strain of trying to escape, or the emotional pain inflicted from being around Sage- which oddly that doesn’t seem to be affecting me very much right at the moment. No, it's something heavy, yet intangible- like everything within me is constricting as if they have their own extremely dense gravitational force impeding on them from every angle. It's tiring.  _I'm_  tired. And I'm alone. And I don't want to be, but that's how it is right now. And no matter how many times I can give myself practical or uplifting advice and keep positive, however necessary it is, it's still a hard thing to do on your own-  _being strong_.

 

I force myself to stop with a sigh, finally allowing myself a little rest as I slump into the warm, hard surface of the sunny grass below me, then roll onto my back and face the clouds as I nudge my backpack off of my shoulder to rest beside me. I gently pull my incredibly messy braid around my shoulder, threading my fingers through the slightly knotted and frizzy strands until my hair lays around me in soft waves that drift along the ground a little as the breeze continues to blow. I softly close my eyes and steadily increase my hearing to drown out the silence a little more.

 

The wind sounds like a tornado might threaten to touch down near me, and the leaves sound more and more like the violent stream of a waterfall crashing into abused shale beside me as I stand in the midst of the water, but the violence somehow calms me, possibly matching frequency with the unstable emotions in my unconscious still pleading for me to turn around and beg for sanctuary in that damned house again.

 

"Well, this is truly quite an unexpected turn of events."

 

I almost jump out of my own skin as I bolt up from the ground and onto my feet. The young woman sitting next to where I was squeals and scrambles a couple of feet away from me, complete shock taking over her expression. We blankly stare at each other for a few seconds in defensive stances, but as I recognize her, we both relax.

 

"Mira... you can't sneak up on people like that." I softly chide her and sigh out the last of the shock and terror inside of me before gently grinning at her. She blushes in light embarrassment and bashfully returns my grin.

 

"I do apologize- you remember I am not as acclimated to the correct aspects of social interaction as one might normally be today." She pushes herself off of the ground and runs a hand through her hair awkwardly, her slightly grass-stained white dress billowing in the breeze behind her. It's a different one than I saw on her before, but is equally as beautiful with a collar that wraps around the sides of her shoulders with elastic, then separate into upside down V's at the sleeves, where strings thread them together until they reach the ends of her wrists in small bows. It continually wisps across her knees in the wind with the fabric being so light and airy, and as it catches the sunlight, I can see the soft yellow colored stitching in the seams that seem as if they soak up the rays of gold within the thread.

 

We stare at each other in silence for about two minutes, enjoying the nature around us and the halcyon weather, the familiarity between a comfort between us that enables us to relish in the now much more tolerable silence.

 

"Mira, what... did you mean? What you said before?" I break it after a couple of minutes, curiosity taking hold of me.

 

"Ah, do forgive me, I could not help but overhear on my walk what you discussed with the head of the Creepypasta mansion. I did not  _mean_  to intrude, however I was just passing by and happened to hear..." She digs her foot into the ground nervously and turns to face the sun before continuing. "I thought it was odd how much things could change within a span of only a few days and how much information could be revealed. How odd it also is how everything can distort and shift with a simple title being declared.  _Samarin_. It is quite ominous- an unintentionally loaded word- is it not?" She cocks her head and turns to glance back at me, the remnants of the rhetorical question still tinting her lips and glimmering in her glassy cyan eyes. She sadly quirks her lips at my troubled silence and shifts her gaze to the ground for a second before turning around again. A soft breath leaves her lips and she pulls her hands together in front of her and nods her head, as if she is making up her mind on something.

 

"If... you would like, you may take up residence with me... I cannot promise that I will know exactly how to help you control your individual abilities, but if you would allow me, I would be delighted to try and aid you in your training. I am sure you would like to learn as quickly as you can." Her eyes flick down the hill and towards the general vicinity of where the house should be. I bite my lip and follow her gaze, searching despite knowing I won't be able to see it through the thick trees towering over it.

 

I close my eyes and shake my head, no use in looking back on what  _has_ happened, I need to get to work and do something about it if I want things to change. "I wouldn't want to intrude, your home is pretty small after all, but I'd love to-" She whips around so fast that her hair snaps around her waist as she picks my hands up and folds them in between her own smooth, ivory-toned ones.

 

"It's settled! Give me an hour and I will be able to make you a mat, but if you give me until sundown, I can make you a crocheted blanket, a pillow, and a mattress... albeit a very crudely stuffed mattress-"

 

"You  _really_ don't have to-" I interrupt her counting on her fingers with mine still encapsulated between hers with a manic expression on her features and she moves around jumpily, but she stops me again with a reprimanding look

 

"Nonsense, after the little bit I overheard from your parting discussion with mister... um... Tall Man, it would be quite rude of me to restrain myself from making you as comfortable as I am huma- I mean, Samarinly capable! You do remember where my lodging is located within the hills?"

 

"Yeah I think-" 

 

"Excellent! You must rest, so please wait here in the sunshine, it is too lovely an afternoon for you to have not taken the time to thoroughly enjoy it. Stay here, and I will retrieve you when I have some soup in the pot and tea cooling. Oh, I have noticed that the awful razor-fingered creature only actively moves around at nighttime, so you are very safe as of right now, dear."

 

"Mira, I would much rather just go back-"

 

She furrows her faint eyebrows into a crooked stitch and gives me a scolding, motherly look. " _Stay. Here. And. Rest._ " After she says it and somehow roots me to the spot, she scowls at me for a couple more seconds before grinning and gathering the billowing ends of her dress between her fingers as she drops my hands. "Alright, I shall take my leave." She chirps before hastily, yet lightly skittering among the trees again.

 

I hopelessly sigh and watch the trees for a moment before shaking my head in amusement and turning it up towards the sky. A somber expression moves over my features, but I shake it away and instead close my eyes as the warmth of the sun graces the tired muscles of my body. Stretching my arms above my head until they pop, I lower myself back onto the grassy slope, pulling my backpack below my head for a cushion. I snuggle into it and curl myself into a ball before allowing my breathing to settle into a slow rhythm.

 

I'm thankful to finally be able to lie down, but a few thoughts still nag at my mind that need to be addressed before I can rest and go to sleep, almost like how a computer will be prevented of shutting down if you still have tabs open. I lightly grin, the analogy reminding me of BEN, and how worried he sounded about me and about the guys, despite acting so incredibly nonchalant before. My mind drifts off on this, and Jeff surfaces into my mind, thoughts of BEN reminding me how understanding he was right off the bat about me going to the safe house and how confident in me he seemed. Hoodie pops into my mind next, and a vision of his whiskey colored eyes flashes through my mind- bright and kind, yet also filled- as they constantly are- with light embarrassment. I remember seeing it in his eyes almost every time I looked at him except when he is passionately talking or concentrated on something. As the vision of him turns from the fleeting images of a memory or a daydream to the beginnings of a real dream, I find myself smiling at him before I turn to look at Masky as he sits on the ground off to my side. He pouts as he props his head on his hand and angrily plants his elbow on top of his left leg after he crosses it under his right. He notices my stare and lazily moves his eyes up to meet mine, a soft grin pulling at the sides of his mouth and replacing the pout after a few seconds of stubborn frowning.

 

"Quit flirting Masky, I'm right here." I laugh as Masky snaps his head towards Jack, who goes from giving him an annoyed expression to flashing him a shit-eating grin from his place adjacent of me on the ground. Masky grumbles and turns so he is cupping his cheek and facing completely away from me, hiding his embarrassed face. In the moment I grin as I remember that I'm not really alone, Masky, Hoodie, EJ, and the others are close by, and they still trust me- how much being debatable as of right now, but I know that they will be there for me if I need them. 

 

The only reason they aren't here now is Slenderman's fault, and while I want to hate him for restraining them from coming after me, I know he did it for a good reason. I know Masky would have pleaded with me to reconsider, and Jack would have offered to negotiate my continued stay at the safe house with Slender until he wore himself out, but with how set in stone the decision was, it would have been so much harder to walk away on me, and probably on the both of them as well to see me go. I appreciate him taking the blame for my departure, and diverting their anger towards him when he knew he didn't have to. I know he may not trust me, but at least he respects me.

 

On the bright side of it all really, I've escaped from Sage and showed her which one of the two of us is the strongest by surviving and completely overpowering her, I've uncovered new incredible abilities that I can learn to control and better help everyone in any way I can, I've finally learned the truths that were kept from me for all my life, and at the very least I have shown the guys at the house just how strong I can actually be without them- which is a bit empowering in my mind. 

 

So maybe all of these good things that happened to me had to come with horrible equivalents in order not to throw off the balance in my life, right? After all, they  _do_  say you can't know the bright warmth of the day without the knowing creeping darkness of the night...

 

My mind drifts off on the thought and concentrates on fabricating my dream as I lay under the sun with the cool air blowing over my exposed arms and legs. I lose track of the world around me, and after a few more seconds, I'm happily out like a light.

 

**Time Skip**

 

A gentle shake lulls me out of my dream and back into consciousness. I yawn lightly and coax my blurry eyes to come back into focus as I deftly rub them. My hair falls over my shoulder in waves as I push myself up from the ground and murmur, "What time is it?" to whoever woke me.

 

"If I had to guess it would be around six, the sun is near setting time." The voice sounds airy and light on my ears, and I immediately smile into them as she removes her hand from my shoulder.

 

"Thanks for letting me stay with you, Mira. It really means a lot." I mutter as my eyes finally adjust to see her crouching a foot in the grass away from me.

 

"It is my pleasure, now come, I do not want the soup to burn." She holds a hand out to me as she stands up, but I politely wave it off for fear of breaking her seemingly fragile wrist by squeezing and pulling on it too hard. She instead turns to bend down and pick up my bag, only realizing how heavy it is as she stumbles along the slope for a few feet after throwing it over her shoulder. I chuckle and carefully remove it from her shoulder as she makes a strained, yet determined expression, but it only makes her huff and reach to grab it back.

 

I roll my eyes playfully and secure it fully over my back, which makes her pout and mumble, "I could handle it..." hopelessly. She clucks her tongue at me after a few seconds, then straightens up and folds her hands behind her back, replacing the light grin back on her face. "Alright, let us take our leave. I am telling you the truth when I say that you do not want to even  _attempt_  to eat burnt soup."

 

I nod and follow her up the hill and through the trees at a moderately fast pace. She doesn't even look at her feet to make sure she doesn't step on anything sharp, she just continues to face ahead and unconsciously dodge the things even I almost trip over while I'm watching the ground. We hit the steepest part of the slope after a couple of minutes, but she takes a turn Westward where I would have gone East, and I find myself in uncharted territory. In no time though, we slip through a few densely packed trees and step onto the hard weathered shale of a part of the waterfall that seems to have been blocked off with a large amount of debris, and reduces the once steady stream to a small dribble. Mira scales the almost invisible shelves of the side of the waterfall with incredible ease, then turns down to look at me with a small smirk in the corner of her lip as I stare up at her with disbelief. 

 

"You  _are_  coming, are you not?"

 

I grumble at her teasing look before moving slightly to the right and climbing up a section with a few better places to grasp than the other wall, and scale it in a minute more than Mira did on the harder route. When I make it up, she continues to give me the teasing look for a few seconds before giggling quietly and gently placing a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

 

"I am only playing, (Y/n). I know you are tired. You do not have to push your limits." There is still a hint of mischief in her eyes as she turns to scamper up a dirt slope off to the side of the smooth, ashen grey shelf I stand upon. I bemusedly shake my head and follow after her, and after a minute or two later, I see her log cabin house come into view just as she slips around the side.

 

Pushing myself up the slope, I stop by the side of the hidden door to put my stuff down, then make my way over to the pool's edge to watch the remnants of sunlight mingle with the gently rippled water and through the wispy branches of the willow trees near me. They softly sway in the wind, and my hair seems to mimic its lithe dancing as it tickles my shoulders and back. I lay against the crooked trunk of the tree closest to her front door and watch as the geodes at the bottom of the pool shimmer with patches of yellow hitting their crystals and throw little waves of pale yellow up along the regular smooth patches of rock around them.

 

Around a few minutes later, I feel Mira sit down next to me as the sun finally disappears over the hilly horizon in the distance. She quietly slides a smooth wooden bowl beside me before sipping at the edge of her own. I gingerly coax the bowl up into my fingers and spoon the soup into my mouth, a shiver rippling down my back and legs as the heat contrasts with the chilly air around me.

 

"You should see this when summer returns- it is a must." She drags the tip of her finger through the water, causing a nearby lotus to bob in the tiny wake she leaves behind. I spot goosebumps on her arms as she pulls her hand back into her lap. I nod and finish my soup before slumping against the tree again, full and content with the temperature around me as it contrasts with the warmth my body puts off and creates a tingling sensation along my body. I gently close my eyes and hum as the fiery amber color remaining in the distance fills the space behind my eyes with incredibly blurred images of fire. I relax into the tree a little more as Mira joins me in leaning against it, her company consoling me from the sting of having to spend my first night without any of the Creepypastas.

  
"Thank god you came  _here_. This idiot would have gotten us lost trying to find wherever the hell you went just so he could say sorry." A familiar voice playfully grumbles in a slightly amused tone from somewhere along the slope to my left. 

 

My eyes snap open, and a grin spreads across my lips as I spot Masky standing awkwardly on the steep slope I made my way down the day previous. Jack stands hunched next to him, panting and leaning into the tree next to him and looking towards the ground. I push my bowl off to the side and give Mira a thankful look as she flicks her gaze from Masky to me. She nods appreciatively and takes my bowl in her hand before making her way through the vines in front of her front door.  
  


I immediately make my way towards them, trying to hide my incredible relief and happiness that they have come to see me, but inevitably failing. Masky hops down and moves towards me as Jack takes a few hard breaths through his mask. He captures me in a hug that lasts for a good thirty seconds before he finally lets me go to get some breath, but suddenly Jack has me wrapped up in his arms too, his mask off his face and in his hand.

 

I stay stock still for a few seconds before relaxing into the hug and moving my hands to rest on his upper back. He continues to breath a little harder than normal into my neck, but not so hard that he seems winded, and he continues to hold me tight- saying how incredibly sorry he is without moving his mouth at all.

 

"Alright, alright, back it up, you wuss." I tease and lean back after a minute, lightly pushing him away with a playful grin. He grits his teeth and furrows his eyebrows in distress.

 

"I'm sorry I compared you to her, it's just so hard to distinguish the lines between you two when my mind is already fuzzy with how I feel about how  _she_ -..." He stops and sighs, embarrassment taking over his features at admitting his weaknesses, but I nod, getting it regardless.

 

"Well, I can tell why we're so similar, Sage and I- you just hugged your previous love interest's niece." I scoff and gauge his shocked expressions with silent amusement. EJ goes from skeptical, to dead serious, then to a bit appalled, then back to just plain shocked. 

 

"Wait... so he was going after your mom's sister? Jack how old  _was_ she?" Masky seems confused as hell, but then gives him an accusative smirk.

 

"She's only, like- 32! Don't look at me like that!"

 

"Damn well I know what you're into now. Got you some MILF-"

 

"Shut the fuck up, Masky-  _you're_ no one to talk." He snaps back.

 

"What's that s'posed to mean?"

 

By this point I'm laughing so hard that I can't hear the next few things they say, but by the time I recover, they're both incredibly embarrassed and glowering at each other, so I can only imagine what was said, but I don't care.

 

"It's nice to see you again too, guys." I deftly wipe a tear away from my eyes from laughing so hard. "So did you escape to come see me, or did Slender let you come?"

 

We all start to move towards the water's edge, walking and talking as we go.

 

"If he really wanted to stop us, he could have, but he didn't necessarily give us permission to come. Hoodie and Jeff would have wanted to come to see you too, but we wanted to keep a low profile, and as you know-"

 

"Jeff is anything but. _I know_." I snicker lightly as I sit down on the bank and drag my fingertips through the water like Mira had before. I wish she would get her butt out here so I could introduce her to Masky.

 

"We were all furious, of course. It's just idiotic. You've been living in the house with us for almost four days-"

 

I frown and go to open my mouth, but EJ sighs and starts talking for me. "-And look how badly Slender was weakened in just that short amount of time. Masky please be practical. We both know that until she can get her abilities straightened out, and we figure out if she is-" he turns to face me so he isn't excluding me from the conversation, "if  _you_ are _-_  good or evil, then we can't have her back in the house." He grits his teeth and pointedly huffs, obviously angry at it too, but still resigned to it. "We're just making it harder for her by asking her to come back, Masky." He somberly turns to face me, a tinge of regret from earlier still in his expression. "And I'm sure you've already had a long day, already."

 

Masky puffs out a breath into the cool night air in front of him. "I'm sorry, I'm just saying that he shouldn't be against her only because she's a Samarin."

 

I shoot him a skeptical look, then knit my eyebrows together in an accusing glare. "He's not, Masky. Just because you're mad that I can't come back doesn't mean that it is because he's  _racist_." I scold him.

 

"He is- I won't lie to you." Jack exhales a long breath and folds his hands together in his lap, then turns his head to look away from me. "He turned Mira away, despite knowing she was a good Samarin and that she had the power to instantly heal any one of us."

 

My eyes widen and my expression grows darker, but I don't want to believe that he's actually being racist towards us just because we're Samarin- there must be some other good reason. But as I mull over it, I realize that Mira didn't seem too surprised that I was kicked out after mentioning my ties to Samarin, and then went on to describe it as a loaded word. So  _that's_  what she meant. Maybe they are right...

 

"I apologize, but I couldn't help but overhear... would you mind if I join?"

 

All three of us look back at the front door of Mira's home to see her peeking out from behind the wall of vines in front of her door with a sheepish expression.

 

I shake my head and motion for her to sit near us. She quickly makes her way over to me and sets herself down on the hard ground next to me. She then turns to speak to me. "It's true, what they are saying about this Slender person. When I asked to be allowed onto the property, it was long before the incident with involving... um... involving..."

 

"Sage."

 

"Oh! Yes, thank you. Involving Sage. I was new at it, but still very adept at my healing ability, and I was informed by a close friend that I should seek work here with the Creepypasta's. When I asked to meet with the tall man, he seemed incredibly willing to let me in until I explained the extent of what I was at the very end. He immediately sent me on my way again, despite hearing of my long journey and my expertise in medicine and sympathising with me. This was when Jack found me and organized a group to help me build my home in such a beautiful place near the house so I could come seek help if ever I needed it." She gestures to the waterfall and the lush, beautiful flora around her.

 

I grit my teeth. That bastard shouldn't be treating people like this, even if there  _is_ a very good reason. If he were being as responsible and mature as he often times is, then he would have explained it to her and the other CPs already. I go ahead and voice my anger.

 

"Did he ever even give you a reason?"

 

She worries her lip between her teeth for a few seconds, her mind lost in thought looking for a memory before she finally nods. "He simply told me that unfortunately he couldn't allow anyone so dangerous to be living inside the threshold and sent me away without further explanation."

 

A conflicted expression washes over me. Maybe he's not as good of a person to look up to or even respect as I thought he was.

 

"But... this brings us to the other reason for us being here." Jack mutters. I shoot him a questioning look, asking him to elaborate. He readily complies. "We know because of this information that even if you were to learn how to control your ability, that he would turn you away, so we... want you to do some digging for us."

 

I continue to stare at him with confusion. "Why can't you guys do that? Don't you have more resources than I ever would out here?"

 

"That's true, but Jack said he told you about the mind manipulation, right? If we plot to dig up dirt on him to knock him down a few notches, he will know and come after us just before he stifles our minds into thinking against it. So... we need someone _we can trust_  on the outside to do some of the work we are incapable of doing."

 

"And you are the perfect candidate." Jack chimes in next to him the resolution in their expressions clear. "And this way, when the time comes for you to to return, he won't be able to hold your position as a Samarin against you."

 

"We are trying everything to be able to allow you- the both of you- to be able to live with us freely, regardless of the stereotypes of your races. And we can't do it without your help..." Masky pauses and looks into our expressions for a second before his gaze rests solely on mine.

 

"So... are you in?" 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Oh fuck. 5000 words is a lot for having done most of it in one night. I couldn't find much inspiration on what I wanted to do until I had to be doing something else. I have two great tests tomorrow btw, and I should be studying rn haha. But anyways, I hope you like this new direction and are curious to see what happens next. Thank you all for reading! :D


	30. Oblivious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As we get into a new arc, things are gonna get intense again, so I made this chapter as a bit of a wrap-up on things that maybe people didn't fully understand, and put in a little more comic relief. Cause shit gon' get crazy again. Please comment what you thought about the last arc and what you think of the story so far- I really want to improve in any way I can, and I love hearing feedback of any kind. Hope you continue to enjoy! :)

 

 

 

"Of course," I remark, determination creating a serrated edge in my tone that brings out a certain wild, excited look in the boys' eyes. We're doing something that seems so _wrong_ \- trying to overthrow the being that has been protecting them for a good amount of time, including me, and has seemingly been a good leader to everyone- and even though it's for the right reasons, we're still stabbing him in the back. I half expect the bastard to teleport next to me and growl, "Et Tu Brute?" into my ear.

 

 

Still, the four of us wallow in our shared tension for a few seconds until Jack breaks the silence.

 

 

"So, now that the main topic is out of the way, would you be up to telling us what exactly happened in Liechtenstein?" Jack relaxes on his end of the rigid atmosphere, causing the rest of us to follow suit.

 

 

"I thought you'd _never_ ask." I joke, covering up the slight pang of remembering everything. I take in a hiss of the night air, recalling key events and sifting through which ones I want to talk about for a second before continuing. "The drive and the hike up there was fine. I even saw and heard the CPs from the bottom of the hill, waiting for me to come up and rattle off the battle plans. When I got there though, Sage had unleashed a leafy hell on them all." I cringe slightly at the memory of the twisted vines blooming out of that young, German teen's chest and reaching toward me with sinewy red strands and decide to skip it. "I ran like hell to get out of there, and she was literally snapping at my heels- I _almost_ made it too, but somehow she had the strength to throw this huge ass vine across the path in front of me. So she knocked me out and woke up in the attic of the safe house a couple of hours later. She explained a lot to me, about my mom and being a half-blood-Samarin or whatever and about my abilities. She gave a lot of hands-on demonstration for showing me how my healing factor works too- but I still barely know how it works." I shiver a little- cold air be damned. Jack places a light, reassuring hand on my shoulder as he notices the goosebumps traveling up arms.

 

 

"Oh, I am able to explain that. Samarins can only heal if the wound is _inflicted_ by a Samarin, and if they know who did it. So, if you were to hurt yourself, then you would heal rapidly, but if the Creepypastas hurt you, you would heal as fast as a regular human."

 

 

"Ohhhh, that makes a lot of sense, I guess." I remember back to when Lily choked me, and how the bruises didn't rapidly heal until I went to the house and made sure that it was actually her that was hurting me- because I know I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw it. I subconsciously rub at my neck with a resolved expression.

 

 

"So what about your other abilities, then?" Jack murmurs.

 

 

"What- interception?"

 

 

"Yeah, we only saw that last part of it. And most of that time I was too out of it to really see much of it." Masky adds.

 

 

"Oh, well she kind of hinted to me at first that I was the one causing all of the problems at the safe house at first. When she left, I figured out that if I willed her not to have power over me, I could destroy her vines, but I didn't really know what I could do with it yet. OH, and get _this_ \- she used up so much energy that she actually fucking _fell asleep_. Even when she _knew_ what I could do to her!"

 

 

"Well that's just _rude_!" Masky sarcastically comments with an over dramatized response. I pout at him, but end up laughing along with EJ and Mira.

 

 

"So I tried to escape again, but this time I got a little head start. And guess what I did?"

 

 

" _What_ did you do?"

 

 

"I freaking stabbed her in the _heart_! But she just got _right_ back up and started chasing me again! But this time, I knew she couldn't get me with the vines and used it against her, because even though I think she knew what I could do for the most part, she didn't know how quickly I could develop them on my own- which apparently turns out to be super fucking quick."

 

 

"Oh yes, often in times of stress, you find hidden potential." Mira nods her head, keeping as poised as ever.

 

 

"So?"

 

 

"So she broke my fucking _spine_! And then when that healed, she dislocated my arms and shoved me back towards the house. So I was caught yet a- _fucking_ -gain."

 

 

"And that must have been around the time we saw you through the car cameras. We were freaking out at the house, and BEN happened to hack your cameras and tap into the microphone for talking on the phone in your car, and that is about the time we got Slender to send us to get you." Jack pitches in. "And he was _none_ too pleased."

 

 

"I _bet_ not."

 

 

"So how did you end up back in the car?"

 

 

"Oh, so she stuck me up in the attic again, and I went to get another razor blade from the boot soles, but they were wedged shut with the humidity, and it took too much noise to get them open, and when they finally did Sage came barreling in, completely shredded my fucking pants and skin to get the damned boots off as you can see, and then she decided to have a little knife play sesh before she left with the boots again- which I am so sorry about, Jack. Those were nice ass boots. But anyway, after that shitfest, I miraculously found a match, and wriggled out of my ropes through a shit ton of pain, then got a fire started and spread it all around before I bolted down the stairs and- wait for it- _ran_ _out of the front door_."

 

 

All three of them stare at me with complete shock and awe as I grin like an idiot. I kind of feel like there should be a campfire between us in that moment.

 

 

"I made it out as she was dealing with the fire, but I had to come back for you guys to make sure she didn't kill you, because _damn_ , if I didn't have that healing factor, I'd have lots of stab wounds, a broken spine, severely dislocated arms, bruises all over my body, and my legs would be ripped to absolute shreds. I didn't even want to think about what she would have done to you," I point at Masky, "and much less Jack."

 

 

"What? Why me?"

 

 

"She is _massively_ jealous. She desperately wants to kill you for some reason- but I could tell that she loves you, in a sick, twisted, murderous sort of way. Like a love filled hatred or something. I can't tell you how many times she mentioned you." I leave out the part about her thinking I'm fucking him and going on and on about it for obvious reasons. What a _bitch_.

 

 

"Well, at least we know she still has feelings for you...?" Masky shrugs his shoulders as he looks at Jack, who deadpans and gives him a sour look.

 

 

"I don't care if she was the last fucking person on the planet- I'd kill her anyway," EJ growls. "But regardless... I'm sorry all of that happened to you- we shouldn't have let you go in the first place."

 

 

"No, there's no way we could have known that would happen. Plus, I learned a lot of things about myself that would have become an even bigger problem if I had continued to live in the house without knowing about it. If I hadn't gone, she could have come and seriously hurt any one of you, and _then_ how do you think I'd feel when I found out that it was because of me later on?"

 

 

Both of the guys sigh, knowing that no matter how much they press it, my mind is made up and I know that dwelling on the past gets nothing done.

 

"Oh! I'm terribly sorry you two, would you like something to eat? You must have come a long way and you are probably starving," Mira scrambles up from the ground and blurts out. I quirk a grin, her nervous and uncomfortable shifting over talk of Sage is obvious to me but not to Jack even as she avoids his gaze.

 

"If you wouldn't mind, that would be great." Jack grins slightly. Mira blushes in the fading light and quickly moves back inside to scoop still warm soup into a couple more bowls before returning. She hands them their soup before we resume talking.

 

"So how is everyone else? How did they act towards the news?"

 

"Practically everyone was surprised but nobody was really bothered by the fact that you were one, but all of us were disappointed that you had to leave. When they were told the reason why though, everyone started shooting glares at Slender like no other. Of course we're scared that you will affect us with interception and that you might turn good or evil soon-"

 

"Wait-" Mira furrows her brows and cuts EJ off, "oh, I apologize for interrupting you, but (Y/n), you said that you can use your abilities now, can you not?"

 

"Yeah, I used them to get away, and I've accidentally been using the power deficiency part since the beginning of this whole thing."

 

"Hmm, you also said that you were _half_ -Samarin?"

 

I confusedly nod my head. Masky and EJ look at her with the same lost look.

 

"You should have nothing to worry about on the matter of turning good or evil, then. The pure goodness or evil in a Samarin materializes along with the abilities, because your abilities are what define you as such, so if you are unable to use your abilities, you lose the full effect of the good or the evil. Because you have your abilities and still have the ability to choose between doing good or bad things, it would be safe to say that you do not have to worry about them manifesting. This should be due to you not being a full Samarin."

 

I quirk my brow. So if I were to take away someone's abilities, I would take away the harming effect of the pure goodness or evil upon them? It doesn't sound right to me. I took away Sage's ability to use her powers for the most part, but she was still purely evil, so maybe I can separate the two and shut down one but not the other? Maybe... I could allow someone to be able to use their abilities as _themselves_? A small part of me wonders what Mira would be like without the hindrance of pure goodness upon her- and not to mention how _Sage_ would act.

 

"So that is why Sage was allowed to be herself when she was at the house with me..." I hear EJ sadly murmur.

 

Mira tenses up slightly at the mention of her name, but offers up more to the conversation. "Yes, when you informed me of it, I understood that the blockage of her memories caused her to forget her abilities, thus blocking her evilness as well."

 

"Well, that knocks one thing off of our 'to worry about' list, I guess." Masky shrugs his shoulders, breaking the slight tension Mira has as Jack talks about Sage. "But jeez, you must be tired. You're staying here, right?" He looks between Mira and I for an answer, and we both nod. "Is there anything we can do to help you in getting her moved in then?"

 

"Oh, I have to better fill and move the mattress along with the blankets and pillow to the cellar and into a vacant room, then I was going to brew some herbal tea for the two of us before we retired, but if you would like, you are welcome to stay as well." I grin as I see her flick her eyes to the forest, looking for the Rake as a shiver runs down her body. "Especially because the being that is roaming around these parts has been very fond of this area..."

 

Both of the boys laugh a little. "We're sorry, we would have come and brought him back if we knew he was here. (Y/n) must have accidentally allowed him to leave the perimeter around the house and wander up here." Masky smirks.

 

I sheepishly grin and move to stand up. "Yeah, go ahead and stay, I need as much tlc as I can get after being physically and mentally tortured for most of my freaking day."

 

"Happy to oblige," I can practically _hear_ Masky wink. I gently kick him, and flash him a playful grin. Hell, I'm just so happy that they aren't mad at me.

 

"Well, I can move the mattress and set the bed once you're done. Masky would you help Mira get the tea brewing when she needs you?"

 

"Oh, you don't have to-" The looks that all three of us make her close her mouth and politely nod in appreciation. "If you would like, (Y/n), I could draw a warm bath for you- or if you would rather take a shower and don't mind a small walk, there is a natural waterfall hot spring just around the side of this steep hill. This one is from an underground creek, but it warms in the sunshine in the summer before falling over the edge, but the other one stays comfortably warm year round."

 

"What?! How lucky _are_ you, Mira?" I dumbfoundedly grin. "Of, _course_ I'm going to the hot spring."

 

She wistfully smiles at my enthusiasm as the boys get up from the ground and finish up the last of their meals. I just can't wait to finally get these raggedy, ripped, and hopelessly bloody clothes off.

 

**Time Skip**

 

I begin rinsing my hair in the steaming hot stream of the overhead waterfall with a grin permanently etched onto my lips. I've been here for a while, but I'm sure that Mira won't mind be running a little late. It was just such a bitch to scrub every inch of my body from the random thick blood stains splotched all over my skin. A razor and a comb later, I'm left where I'm standing right now.

 

The soap she gave me smells good as hell, too. It's like she picked up the sweetest smelling flower in the world, coupled it with warm cotton, then literally entered my house and captured the smell of home, and finally let it all congeal into a little bar of soap that fits into the palm of my hand. It's _wonderful_. Everything I deserved and more after this past fucking week.

 

Even though I know I should get out of the stream and get the white spaghetti strap night dress she gave me on, I just can't help but stand in the hot water. And it's so freaking clean, the water in the pool at the bottom of the falls practically _sparkles,_ and this one _doesn't_ have geodes in the bottom.

 

I let out a wistful sigh and run my hands up and down my smooth legs a little more as I sit on a clean black ledge jutting from the wall. Nothing could make this worse. Not even if the fucking Rake showed up.

 

"(Y/n), you're done, right?"

 

 _Except for that_.

 

"No! I'm not! Give me a sec!"

 

"What!?"

 

"I SAID GIVE ME A SEC!"

 

" _We can't hear you,_ are you alright?"

 

"I am, but you won't be if either of you come around that corner, buddy!"

 

Okay, so maybe yelling at him instead of rushing to grab my towel was a bad idea, because from whatever Jack heard, he interpreted it as a good reason to come running around the corner of the hill like a fucking madman.

 

"JACK GODDAMMIT!"

 

"O-oh, sorry-"

 

"Is she okay-"

 

_"MASKY GODDAMMIT!"_

 

All of us stay stock still, so the continuous flow of the water pounding almost therapeutically into my shoulders seems extremely out of place.

 

"What are you standing there for? Turn the fuck around before you get _smacked_ the fuck around!" I beseechingly yell at them with a certain danger to my tone. Needless to say, they whip around before I can say anything else.

 

I grumble and reluctantly remove myself from the hot water to wrap myself up in a towel. I glare at them the whole time I dry myself off.

 

"Sorry, we thought you said 'I won't be if you don't come around the corner'!" Jack yells back. I scrunch my nose in an even harder glare, not as much mad at them for seeing me naked as I am for them making me get out of my shower. And yes, I know they have every right to be worried after what happened today, but _seriously,_ what dummies.

 

"I think your ears work as much as your eyes, Jack!"

 

Masky bursts out laughing at EJ who gives him a seemingly very painful Gibb's slap right over the back of the head. I lighten up a little as the two of them start throwing small hits at each other.

 

In no time I bob past them in some more of Mira's hand-made flip flops, swishing my towel dried hair as I push the two aside. They dramatically stumble along the dirt path and snicker as I turn and continue walking backwards just to do the 'I see you bitch' motion with two of my fingers before I grin and turn forwards again.

 

"So what did you guys do while I was gone?"

 

"Mira just finished putting together your mattress, so I still have to take it down to the cellar and set you up in that vacant room she had, but I finished the crocheted blanket she had started for you."

 

"Wait, wait, wait- hold up. _How_ do you get to this cellar? I only saw one door, and it was the front door. And you _crochet_?"

 

"Yes, only _real_ men crochet. But there's a hidden compartment in the floor. She stores a lot of canned goods and herbs down there, but when we made the house for her we thought it would be a good idea in case another Samarin came seeking refuge and was turned away too."

 

"Wow, couldn't have worked out any better than that."

 

Jack gives me a really confused look for a second before realization comes over him. "Sorry, I forgot again. This will take some getting used to, I guess."

 

"You don't _have_ to get used to anything. I'm a Samarin, but so what? I'm just another form of a Creepypasta if you ask me, so don't worry about it. Race means nothing in friendship and especially love." I direct towards Jack, hinting about Sage.

 

Jack gives me an affectionate, yet sad smile and places a gloved hand on my shoulder in a tender, friendly way. "You're absolutely correct," he sighs. I return his grin, and place my hand over his before he lets it slide softly off of my shoulder.

 

Masky coughs loudly beside the both of us. I jump slightly at the sudden noise, but recover and look back at him questioningly. He just shrugs his shoulders. "Coming down with something," he simply mutters. I slowly nod.

 

We round the corner and come into the soft light of the moon peeking through the trees in tiny slits to illuminate the waterfall. The added light from the house, I realize, makes so much more of a difference compared to what it was like when I first saw this place. It seems much more charming.

 

"Oh, thank the heavens you are alright!" Mira drops what she is doing as we come through the door to greet us and seems incredibly relieved. She must have though the razor shit got me.

 

I giggle into the palm of my hand. "Thanks for worrying."

 

She nods and ushers us all in. I leave my slightly muddy flip flops at the door and pad across the floor to take the cup of steaming tea Mira holds towards me. I inhale the scent of it and immediately relax. It smells like heaven, and as I sip at the edge, I realize that it also _tastes_ like heaven. Well, if heaven had a specific _taste,_ that is.

 

"This will put you to sleep fairly quick, so if you would Jack, could you move her mattress to the cellar? It's a two person job so I can-"

 

"No that's alright, you have been working your butt off to accommodate me, so please sit down and rest."

 

"But-"

 

I grin and playfully mock what she said earlier, " _Stay. Here. And. Rest._ " She defeatedly sighs and picks her own cup up from the counter before moving to the couch.

 

"Masky, you too. You have been helping Mira make the tea. I haven't really done anything as of yet."

 

Masky looks like he wants to protest, but when he sees my raised eyebrows and my hands resting defiantly on my hips, he simply pours himself some tea and sits down next to Mira.

 

"I'll go grab it if you get the hatch. It's in that far corner over there," he points to the space next to the cluttered table in the corner, and I nod as I notice the small handle for a hatch in the floor. Just as I pry the lid open, Jack is standing next to me with a fairly large matress that has a quilted fabric lining instead of the usual white, flexible-polyurethane material, and it seems a little lumpy in places, but otherwise it looks comfortable.

 

"Go ahead and go down the ladder, and I'll slowly hand it to you. It's a bit hard to carry with one person, so wait for me once you get down."

 

I nod and move down into the hatch, then grab the bottom of the mattress and slowly start to lower it to the floor and set against the wall across from the ladder. It's a pretty tight space, and as I move to go around to the side of the mattress, I accidentally bump into EJ's chest.

 

"Uh, we seem to be a little stuck."

 

"Try to press against the mattress and wiggle your way out."

 

I lean forward to press into the mattress, but all it does is put us in an even more precarious position.

 

"So, having fun back there?"

 

"Not quite, your ass is cutting off my air supply."

 

"The air supply to your dick, or what? Your lungs are in your _chest_ Jack. Even I know that, and I'm not a doctor."

 

"My hands are inches away from your sides, and I _know_ you're ticklish."

 

"Jeez I was just joking," I put my hands up in surrender and turn my body so we're face to face to try and make it a little better, but it only makes it worse, "no need to do anything too rash, there."

 

He rolls his head slightly in a movement equivalent to rolling his eyes, then moves his back further against the ladder and presses my back into the mattress with his hands on my shoulders. He goes to turn around, but loses his grip on my shoulder, and we end up violently bumping our chests and foreheads together, groaning in pain.

 

"Are you guys alright down there? Do you need any help?" I hear Masky ask from above.

 

I look at Jack with slight horror, which he simply smirks at before mechanically noticing that I must have busted my lip on his gritted, sharp teeth. He reaches up to swipe the blood away out of habit, but in that second, Masky peeks down into the hatch at us.

 

We stare at each other for a few seconds before I finally mumur, "we're stuck" to him.

 

He looks a bit less angry as he notices how incredibly and unintentionally jam-packed we are in the small space at the bottom of the ladder, and simply offers a hand for me to move the mattress up again. Jack helps me turn around, and uncomfortably leans over my back to aid me in getting the mattress up off of the floor again, and with a bit of grunt work, we're finally able to pry ourselves away from each other. I then move just outside of the room to where I will be on the side of the mattress, and finally we are able to move the mattress out of the room and into a more open area.

 

There are two rooms along the hallway across from us, and around the corner on our side is an open area with lots of cases that are almost caving with the weight of so many different random jars of spices and herbs that seem to all have been labeled with an old... label maker.

 

"Well this looks familiar." I turn my head back and wink at him. He snickers again.

 

Jack motions to the door to our immediate left, and I lightly kick the slightly opened door the rest of the way open. It's a homely little room with only a bedframe and a small table as a nightstand, coupled with a small set of drawers in the far corner that seem to be covered completely in dust. We move forward and throw the mattress down on the bed frame and let out exhausted sighs. Masky walks in behind us with the newly made blankets folded into his arms and drops them onto the bed and motions for me to go ahead and take one.

 

We crudely make the bed, and out of the corner of my eye I see Mira walk in with two small cups of tea and a similarly fashioned pillow compared to the mattress, with quilted fabric for the lining and a lumpy, yet soft look. She adds it to the bed as the final touch, and sets our tea on the table next to the night stand. Once she is done, she lets out an unintentional yawn, which spreads to the rest of us in the room.

 

"So as for the sleeping arrangements, one of you boys can take my bed, and I can sleep down here with (Y/n)."

 

"No, we aren't going to take your bed, Mira." Jack softly sighs.

 

"But only one of you will be able to fit on the couch."

 

"That's okay, Jack and I can sleep together, and Masky can take the couch. We've slept together before." I tiredly respond.

 

Mira flicks her eyes between Jack and eye for a good ten seconds of silence before we actually catch onto what she is thinking because of our sleep deprived minds.

 

"Oh, no we're like siblings. We're not _sleeping_ together, we're just... sleeping together. Like, next to each other." Jack hurriedly says once he realizes what I said. A small blush flares up on both Mira's and my own cheeks.

 

"Oh, in that case, then are those arrangements acceptable for everyone? I still would not mind giving up my bed."

 

"No I think it's _great_. Don't worry about it." Masky grumbles from a few paces away.

 

I quirk my brow at him and move to the nightstand next to the bed and pick up my drink, rubbing my still tight muscles. I thought the hot spring shower would take care of it, but I still feel pretty achy. I hand the other cup of tea to Jack and sip at it. Mira must have added a little more to it, because it's still piping hot. I pinch my shoulder and make a face because I'm not able to get the exact spot that seems to be giving me hell.

 

"You alright?" Jack asks.

 

"Oh, yeah," I let out a breath, "I'm just incredibly sore from all of this running and fighting and healing and crap from today."

 

"I could rub your back for you if you want?" Masky politely offers, seemingly over his bout of anger.

 

"Oh that's alright, it's all over and it's really deep, and it _should_ be fine in the morning, so don't worry about it."

 

"I can do it, I worked a little in chiropractics before I went to college, it's a great way to study the body- and I'm still really good at it."

 

"Oh, well that's fine I guess. You could probably get this annoying nerve in my back- it's been killing me lately, but I can't really pinpoint it."

 

Masky and Mira both let out a hard breath, but Jack and I don't really notice it as we sip at our tea. "Well, we might as well head to bed, then. Unless you want me to stay and we can stay up talking for a little longer." Masky says.

 

"That's okay, I want EJ to get all over to get these last knots out, and I might as well go to sleep after he's done, so it's probably best if I just see you in the morning. I'm already crashing as you can see." I tiredly gesture to myself, completely oblivious of what I just said due to how tired the tea is making me.

 

Masky hardly nods. Mira does the same and mutters a soft, yet slightly distressed, "well, goodnight, you two." Masky murmurs the same before he closes the door behind him on the way out.

 

Somehow both Jack and I stay oblivious as ever to their annoyance as they stalk their way buck up to the upper level while we finish our tea. After Jack turns off the light and uses his phone as a night light, I lay down on the bed and start to finally relax as Jack rests against my back and rubs that pads of his fingers into me as he moves. I can't help but groan at the pleasurable feeling and sink into the bedspread at his touch. He travels his way down then pushes into me a little more and works into me at varying speeds to make me feel as good as possible, and when he's finally done, I'm in absolute bliss. He's _really_ , and I do mean _really_ , good at this.

 

"Better?"

 

" _Better_. Thank you." I moan into the pillow and curl onto my side. I really needed that.

 

Jack gently arranges the blanket around me before stripping off his socks and then removes his belt and shirt and joins me on the bed again.

 

He turns to face me only to find his place on the pillow and to bid me goodnight, before he turns towards the wall and turns off the light. We fall easily into sleep, completely and utterly unaware of the jealous truce being made right above our heads.


	31. Insidious

3rd person POV (upstairs):

 

"It's stupid. He's stupid." Mira grumbles and pouts as she crouches by the fire and pitifully pokes at the last of the glowing embers as if she wants to jab the white-hot poker into them as hard as she possibly can, but at the same time doesn't want to hurt them.

 

"They're both idiots. Complete dumbasses." Masky slumps down onto the sofa with a hard sigh, the bundle of blankets being jostled out of his arms and off to the side. He gives them an offhanded glance, but simply crosses his arms in front of him and splays his legs out so he can violently tap his right heel on the floor in frustration. Mira looks back at him with the same look mirrored on her face, then allows herself to fall out of her crouch to sit on the floor.

 

"I cannot help myself in believing you on that matter." She sighs, rubbing the slight pain in her back from falling harder than she expected she would.

 

A tense silence forms within the room, stemming equally from both Mira and Masky as their jealousy starts to take hold. It becomes almost tangible with every growing second as Masky's tapping grows more erratic, and Mira's fire-poking turns into an aggravated sifting, causing a sparking mass to burst from the flames.

 

 

"What is their relationship, anyway?" Mira lets herself slump down onto her back, then continues to jostle sparks from the embers in the fire with her firestick, finding solace in the bright flecks.

 

 

"Well, a little while ago, he was the one who comforted her after a really traumatic situation she was thrown into. Since then they've been pretty close and lean on each other, but they claim that they don't like-like each other. A 'brother-sister relationship', they call it." Masky rolls his eyes as he makes his air quotes with his fingers.

 

 

"Do you think she's too close to him, or vice versa?"

 

 

Masky waits for a beat then sighs and uncrosses his arms to prop his elbow up on the arm of the couch, leaning his head into his hand. "I'd like to think she is, but we've fought about something similar to this before. There probably wouldn't be a situation where I wouldn't be jealous about anything though, and I don't want to seem obsessive, but I'm struggling worrying over what could happen regardless."

 

 

Mira turns her head and keeps her eyes following his expressions while he looks at the ceiling and speaks thoughtfully. She notices the light worry wavering in his eyes mixed with the solid flecks of anger lingering within the swirls of color in his pupil, and she can feel his emotions crawling through her skin. She's not that attuned to feeling others' emotions, but it comforts her to know exactly how similar their feelings are.

 

 

"So, what do you propose we do?"

 

 

Masky cocks his head and gnaws on his lower lip a little in thought. "Well, they don't seem to notice that we're annoyed. And if we talk to them I don't think they will truly understand and tell us we're overreacting, so..." he thinks on it for another moment before turning back to meet Mira's piercing blue eyes, "we could always make them jealous," he ends as more of a question than a statement.

 

 

Mira doesn't know what is happening with her. She knows that it would be mean to play tricks on Jack and (Y/n), but his proposition strikes a certain part within her. It rings, softly but steadily, like as if it is a small tuning fork being gently tapped. It sounds sweet and alluring to her but oddly dark and unnatural, and it overpowers the beating of her own heart, causing her to lose herself for a second in it. She is jealous and finds she doesn't care about being nice for a second, she just wants Jack to understand that she has feelings for him and they need to be taken into account, and even though these thoughts scare her, she is too caught up in the new feeling of it for her to notice.

 

 

"Oh, sorry. I forgot that you aren't able-"

 

 

"How do you suppose we should go about doing that?"

 

 

"Doing what? Making them jealous?" Masky seems almost incredulous as he sees the look of dark mischief in her eyes. Mira found herself rolling her eyes and nodding more rudely than she would have expected herself to. Masky processes it for a moment, then grins. "Alright. Here's the plan."

 

 

Time Skip (Reg. POV again)

 

A soft shuffling sound from my right causes my eyelashes to slowly flutter open, and a soft breath to flow from my mouth as my shallow breath returns to a regular pace. I realize that it must have been Jack that made it as my mind catches up to me fairly quickly despite being bogged down by sleep, but I also notice that somehow the two of us have tangled ourselves in the blanket so much that I can barely move my legs anymore. Apparently to try and relieve this in my unconscious state, I rolled cross ways over his chest, which now slowly rises and falls underneath me. Jack's upper half is slightly turned on his side, and holds the pillow right next to his left shoulder, so his face is inches away from my forehead and his breath causes stray strands of my hair to wisp across my nose.

 

I can't help it. I sneeze.

 

Jacks eye sockets snap open at the sudden noise, and despite me trying to cover the sound, it still snaps the silence in half and splinters it around the room. We stare at each other for a second before I reach forward and lightly shove his face away from me.

 

"Back up, your breath stinks!"

 

"Ow! At least I didn't just blow snot all over you!" He retorts through my splayed fingers with a playful grin.

 

"I didn't!"

 

"Whatever, get off!"

 

"Make me!"

 

Jack grapples for my wrist and finally pulls my hand away from his face finally, then tries to shove me off of his chest, but our legs are so tangled together that his lower half simply awkwardly follows me.

 

"Good job, dumbass."

 

"Shut up!"

 

"Ooooh that's the best comeback I've heard about since Kim K's porn video came out."

 

"You're disgusting get away from me. You'll taint my innocence."

 

I finally kick the blankets off enough to move, roaring with laughter as they flip up to hit Jack. He retaliates pretty quickly while I'm distracted, throwing the mass of blankets into my face then shoving his hands under my body and flipping me over. I squeak and flounder for somewhere to hold as my body starts to roll off of the bed, but there's nothing there, so I just end up hitting the floor.

 

It's not that long of a distance, but it still hurts my ass. I groan in pain, then throw myself back up into a sitting position to peek over the edge of the bed, only to see EJ doing the same on the other side of the bed, holding a pillow up near his face as a protective shield. I grin and duck down, then slowly gather the blanket up to my side so I have it wadded up into a little ball. After a few seconds of absolute silence, I launch the make-shift net at him, which gets him to dodge right where I pounce to catch him as I round the end of the bed to get to his side.

 

I slam his back into the floor with a maniacal grin at my victory, but no sooner than I do there is a pillow slamming into the side of my head. I grab it and yank it away from him before he can regain his grip, then shove it into his stupid grinning face. His laughter is muffled as he throws me off of him and onto my back to keep the pillow from suffocating him, he then moves to pin me, but I scramble up quicker than he can move and bolt for the door.

 

"You can't escape me that easily..." He menacingly growls.

 

"Watch me." I throw over my shoulder, but as I grab the knob and glance back, I see that he is only a few inches away from me, and I have no room to open the door anymore. I curse under my breath as my shoulders painfully smack into the door with a loud bang. The incredibly loud noise knocks my out of my roughhousing, playful state of mind as it reminds me that there are people sleeping upstairs that we probably woke up. 

 

"Shit, EJ, you think they heard that?"

 

"I'm sure you woke them up with that sneeze- what with you and your big ass nose." He presses the tip of his finger into my nose, scrunching it up into a dumb expression that he laughs at.

 

I bat at his forehead, which gets him to remove himself from me and back up, still laughing slightly. I glare at him, but it lessens up when his expression returns to light grinning.

 

"Whatever, idiot, let's head on up to apologize then." I grumble.

 

He rolls his head then nods, and I set to work changing as he steps out to wait for me. Mira must have brought my bag in sometime last night. It sits in the corner by the set of drawers, which I make a note to start packing as soon as EJ and Masky leave.

 

After I get done, we move down the hall and start to silently climb up the ladder.

 

"Ouch! Fuck!" I hear Masky yelp from upstairs. Soon after I hear Mira jump up from the couch and hastily make her way over to where his voice came from.

 

"Oh no, are you alright?" She worriedly asks. It seems a bit too... loving for the way that Mira has spoken to me before. I shake my head, furrowing my brows at the slight pang of jealousy that runs through me and begin climbing a little faster.

 

He hisses in slight pain as it seems like she touches his wound. The ladder never seemed this freaking tall, why the fuck is this taking so long?

 

"I'm alright now..." He gently, almost wistfully sighs. I hear him move closer to where she stands as the floorboards groan. I start gripping the rungs a little tighter and moving with more force. "You can help me out a little more if you want..."

 

She takes in a soft breath. "O-oh... please... I would not want to interfere between you and (Y/n)..." She murmurs, a slight quiver in her tone making her break up her words. I grit my teeth so hard it's painful, but I start to quiver. 

 

"It's alright, I'm sure she won't mind..." It hurts. Why would he say that? I burst up through the hatch in the floor after what seems like forever, just as he finishes his sentence with, "...if you help me cook this. I know she'll appreciate your help regardless."

 

I blink. Then blink a couple more times as Jack flies out of the hatch to sit beside me while I still kneel on the floor. Jack and Mira turn with surprise on their features. Mira stands about a foot away from Masky with his hand in hers, healing a seemingly very large gash in his hand. I feel myself cough violently as an overwhelming feeling crashes into me and sticks into the back of my throat as if someone made me eat something disgusting and it got stuck in my throat. I've felt it before, but not as strong, and I automatically recognize it to be jealousy.

 

"What... are you doing... up here?" I make out between coughs.

 

"I was making you breakfast, and Mira was finishing up with some liquid herbal remedies to help you with your sore muscles and stress. We were going to come get you up soon, but I sliced my hand open cutting up some fruit too carelessly." Masky innocently remarks.

 

My lip curls up into more of a snarl, but as I go over their conversation in my head again, my anger very slowly starts to recede.

 

"I did not want to get involved with his cooking, because it simply seemed more heartfelt for him to solely cook breakfast for you before he had to journey home."

 

My anger drops like a bowling ball off of a cliff. An ashamed expression appears on my features as I realize that maybe the disgusting feeling of overpowering jealousy was coming from me, but I scratch that because I can still feel it, even as my jealousy is replaced with shame.

 

"I-I'm sorry." I hold my hand to my head to hide my mortified blush. I should have known better than that. "I should've just trusted you..." I whisper to myself. Jack places a light hand on my shoulder gives me a knowing, reassuring smile. There's a bit of a dark look hidden behind his expression as well.

 

"Allow me help you, then." EJ turns his head and says to Masky as he pushes himself off of the ground, and offers me a hand without looking at me. I gently take it and stand up next to him. "You do most of the 'loving' work and I will do the rest. It would be a nice 'goodbye for now' gift from the both of us, wouldn't you think?"

 

Masky bites the inside of his cheek almost unnoticeably and nods, waving Jack over. Jack glares daggers at Masky but hides it behind a neutral expression before turning back to me for a second.

 

"Why don't you go talk with Mira about the herbs you might want to try. They could be better suited for your body right now as opposed to capsule painkillers." I nod and watch him stalk over to Masky, then start quietly talking with him in such a low voice that I can barely hear them without increasing my hearing with my Samarin abilities, but I choose not to and instead go to meet Mira with slight apprehension.

 

She's a little fidgety as she pulls a nearby stool up to the fire pit next to another one already placed there, but I blow it off and instead strike up a mundane conversation about the herbs she is adding into the pot, only half paying attention.

 

Masky's POV

 

"I should've just trusted you..." (Y/n) whispers almost inaudibly under her breath. She looks like she wants to kick herself for being jealous, and I can just about do the same thing myself right now, only I feel so much worse.

 

It was slightly true that I felt a little of my trust break when she didn't come back as safe and sound as she promised, but there was nothing I could do about it. I guess I wanted to blame that mistrust on her, and I'm really starting to hate myself for fucking this up once again, and dragging Mira into the mess.

 

"Allow me help you, then." Jack says as he stands up.  "You do most of the 'loving' work and I will do the rest. It would be a nice 'goodbye for now' gift from the both of us, wouldn't you think?" I can tell he's caught onto what I've done, and I can't help but feel angrily ashamed. I bite the inside of my lip to keep from showing my emotions. He says a few more words to (Y/n) before she nods and starts to move off towards Mira, then he makes his way towards me. I can't help but tense up.

 

"Why did you do that?"

 

I hiss and shake my head. "I was jealous, and being a dumbass."

 

"Well that's for sure. You should have seen her face. You really hurt her."

 

I scrunch my face up in regret. Fuck. She knew where her morals were and I didn't until I heard her say that. I should have trusted her all along too, goddammit. I should have known better that what she said was what she meant and respected the fact that she needed someone besides me to lean on, but I forgot it again. That there are other people she needs in her life too, because there are just some things that others can do that I just can't.

 

I just need to be there for her as much as I can where others can't, I guess.

 

I unconsciously watch as Jack searches my gaze through the corner of my eyes. He huffs out a long breath and relaxes slightly, probably coming to the conclusion that I finally figured it the fuck out.

 

"I just want you to know that she cares about you, and you shouldn't take that for granted. I never really knew what I had until I lost it forever- you know that."

 

"I know." I close my eyes and sigh, giving the recently sterilized knife I cut myself with so he can start chopping. A last thought strikes me though as the silence starts to grow between us. "One last thing." I murmur.

 

"What?"

 

"Do you ever think you could start over? Even after all this time you still seems like you haven't gotten over her. Just... sorry... all of this shit just makes me think. You don't have to answer."

 

He shakes his head and stops slicing to place the knife on the table and closes his eyes.

 

"I know you may think that I'm stupid, that I'm lying to myself because I don't want to let go, but I've tried to move on. To regret it, learn, and move on with my life. But she was... we were the two piece puzzle hidden within 7 billion others that could only fit together. Somewhere in me, I still have that hope that she will return to how she was. In the brief time I knew her, I knew she was it, and no one else would be, no matter what I did. And that... is what it is." He shrugs and opens his eyes again, only to see me looking at Mira slamming the front door shut behind her, her golden blonde hair rippling in a wave of breeze behind her as angry tears drip off of her clenched jaw. 


	32. Just a small break.

Hey guys, fair warning, I'm not doing too hot right now at home and I don't wanna fuck up Hitchhiker with my negativity, so I'm going to skip this Wednesday's update until I get back next week. I go on fall break this Friday and I'll have a good weekend to myself, so hopefully by then things will have gotten better again. I'm only pushing it back by one week though!!! No more than that. Just can't pull it together right now is all.

Thank you to all who read and keep up with the story! I'll be back again in a week. Thanks for understanding. :)

-morgancatlovey


	33. Penitence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Little bit of angst in this chapter as well as some good foreshadowin'. I'm happy to say that I fina-fucking-ly fixed my family problems that were hindering me from focusing on writing a new chapter last week, and it actually took about a week to fix. But anyways, thank you to everyone who stuck with me and continues to follow my stories- I really do appreciate it, you don't even know. I hope you enjoy! :)

 

**Mira's POV**

 

The door slams behind me as I bolt out of the stifling atmosphere of my living room. I could feel it. I could feel his pain running down the back of my throat and invading my body completely against my will. It hurt so bad, and seared my lungs, then somehow entered my bloodstream and ripped apart my arteries as if it they were trying to pump lead. Then I felt his heartache, and it destroyed me, because I knew in that moment that I could never have the one thing I longed for from him- the love that would allow me to forget I am trapped in this naive little prison, not being able to say no, not being able to get what I want because I always have to sacrifice myself first, and  _fuck_ , I hate him for it. I was being emotionally raped and tortured in there because I had to be born as something I never wanted to be, I had to become a being reserved only for good, and to make myself forget, I secluded myself. And I thought he could be the exception, the one I wouldn't mind being around, the one to soothe it all into the back of my mind and make me forget.

 

But I know now that he could never save me from this cutesy, naive little bitch that just can't refuse, because she is so good it hurts.

 

About halfway around the hill to the hot spring, I realize I am actually being allowed to think these thoughts that I haven't been privy to in  _years_ , and I stop- standing paralyzed in the middle of the dark path. My hair sways around me in ripples, tickling my skin, and my heart leaks liquid hatred into my chest, and I finally notice the maniacal grin on my features. Somewhere beneath the unbearably hot mess tearing through my chest, there is a little wisp of something, something that doesn't belong to me, something that is blocking that little fucking thing that restricts my real self. And with it I don't have to hold back anymore. Now, maybe it doesn't matter he hurt me, because for some reason now, I have the ability to hurt him back, to break him into _nothing_ , and it  _truly_  excites me.

 

**Your POV (minutes earlier)**

 

"If you add the right amount of cinnamon to the mixture-" I nod, patiently waiting for Mira to continue on with the boring, yet still insightful lesson, but when she doesn't say anything for a full thirty seconds, I turn my head up to look at her. A dark, emotionless expression has glazed over her eyes and left her pale-pink features looking almost ghostly and sunken in. The ground cinnamon shaker in her hand stays hovering over the pot, and her body stays completely still except for a light shuddering. I wave my hand in front of her eyes, feeling her incredibly shallow breaths upon my hand as I barely register the crackling fire and droning voices of Masky and Jack in the background. I gently call her name, but she stays unresponsive, so I turn to worriedly call for Jack just as she finishes up what he is saying only to hear her nails scrape on the old wooden floor as she scrambles to get up and run away, and the cinnamon shaker slams to the floor to spill all over the place.

 

I stare after in complete bewilderment after her as the door bangs shut behind her, and I wonder what the hell is going through her mind for her to react to seemingly nothing in that way. But I have an idea of who caused it. I flick my eyes back to Jack, gauging his expression. I notice that the room feels dark and heavy with the lingering effects of whatever he was talking about, and I just barely allow myself to read his emotions, only to feel intense surprise and the lingering feeling of what I think is heartbreak radiating off of him. I almost gag at the potency of it, and immediately force my ability to read emotions away, coughing as I stumble up from the floor.

 

"What did you say?" I almost plead with him to tell me so I can run after her as fast as possible to both calm her down and to leave the stifling atmosphere as quick as physically possible.

 

"I-I..."

 

"Sage, we were talking about Sage." Masky interrupts Jack, realizing my need to run after her and the severity of whatever I'm feeling, albeit not grasping it fully. I nod and cover my mouth before running out of the door, hoping that she wouldn't bother to deviate from the path straight in front of her.

 

I allow my eyes to lighten up to the greenish hue of night vision as the dense trees cover the remaining moonlight and glints of sunlight, then even the light from the house as it fades away from my view. I huff as I round the corner at a medium jog, only to find her standing there with her head turned towards the ground. I sigh with relief as I see her, and immediately go just past her figure to look at her face. I place a light hand on her shoulder and worriedly look at her shuddering form. "Mira, I'm sorry about him are you-"

 

"Get the fuck away from me."

 

It feels like my whole body hits pause, and I try to hit the rewind button because I'm completely sure I didn't just hear that come out of her mouth, but just as I go to look around, my theory is dropped flat on the floor as she harshly jerks her shoulder away from my light grip and takes her other hand up to gather the material of my T-shirt into her dainty, yet incredibly strong fingers. She jerks me down towards her so my face is level with hers, and I realize in this moment that she wasn't trembling from sadness or shock, she was  _laughing_. And the look on her face isn't very reassuring either as it fades from a psychotic grin into a snarl.

 

"You think you're so goddamn perfect because you were born without this fucking curse, and you have the power to choose between doing the right or the wrong thing, don't you? Do you fucking know how hard it is to lie dormant, screaming for help but you're silent to anyone, because you're forced into something that you don't want- something you can't even stop no matter how strong or how different you are from the way you are _biologically_ supposed to act?" She swivels and slams me against the tree nearest to her. I take in a sharp, almost terrified gasp as her viridian blue eyes bore straight into mine. "No. You fucking  _don't_."

 

"Mira, stop! Why are you acting like this?" I furrow my eyebrows and ask in a stern tone, not really wanting to get violent with her even as she freaks out on me.

 

"Somehow I've finally been able to be myself,  _the real me_ \- not this pussy bitch I've been forced to be for so fucking long. Not proper, not polite, and not _forgiving_." She grips harder and roughly presses my back into the tree so much; I'm debating with myself on which one will break first- the tree or my body. I steel myself and kick at her, landing a brutal hit on her ribs, feeling them crack on impact. She wheezes and lets go of my body, allowing me to dance away from her swiping grip as her would starts to rapidly heal as she combines her ability with the normal regenerative ability of a Samarin. "You've been given the abilities and you haven't been through nearly as much pain as is necessary to be able to even  _think_  about utilizing them. She advances towards me, her hair catching the sunlight as we step into a patch on the path that allows a limited amount of fresh morning sunlight to leak through from the horizon. It catches in her eyes and in her bared teeth, making her look like a feral animal. I growl at her words.

 

"So losing my family, losing my friends, losing my trust, being tortured for what I am, and feeling unshakable and destructive guilt for all of it isn't enough pain? I may be able to fight back, but I'll  _never_  belong,  _never again_. Do  _you_  know what that's like? At least you fucking fit. I'm a nobody. I don't fit. I try to hitchhike off of the rest of you but I will  _never_  be a part of you." I snarl as I smack her cheek to try and get her to come back to her senses. For some odd reason, something seems to be blocking whatever made her purely good. And this must be who she truly is... behind what she is forced to be.

 

So is it wrong to want her to go back the way she was, just so I could have her, the Samarin Mira, back again?

 

I can't help but will with all of my heart right in that moment for her to go back to the ever polite, ever proper Mira, just until we can figure this out. But I clench my jaw in hopelessness as I think that it isn't up to me, that no matter how much I hope, no matter how much I beg for her to go back, she is the one who decides that.

 

After Mira staggers back from me slapping her, she stays still- staring at the same angle my hand left her head at nothing in particular. After a few seconds, she blinks and takes in a large breath snapping one hand to her chest and one hand out to catch herself on the ground as her knees buckle. I hesitantly stare at her as she breathes heavily, her eyes wide open and her expression shocked and fearful- all traces of malice in her expression fading so fast, I might have missed it if I had blinked.

 

"Mira?" I cautiously call out to her as I take a few light steps towards her. Not believing my eyes.

 

She sits back in complete confusion and shock looking forward but not seeing anything. When I crouch down in front of her, she flutters her eyelashes and looks up at me with a questioning look. "Pardon...?" She looks around her before suddenly realizing why she is out here, and then a couple of tears softly stream down her face, but as lowers her gaze, a soft half-hearted smile plays on her lips. She still continues to grip at the fabric over her chest, but she takes her other hand up off of the ground to wipe away the tears with her knuckles.

 

"Are you alright? You didn't seem like yourself..." My fingers itch to touch her shoulder, but I draw my hand away from her again.

 

"I... can't seem to understand why that..." She shakes her head and the smile falls.

 

"Just try to explain to me so I can try to help you as best as I can."

 

As I crouch near her, she immediately leans forward into my chest, seeking some type of solace. I tense up at first, thinking that she might reach up and strangle me at any second, but I relax after about twenty seconds and gently place my hands on her back, cradling her to me as she sniffles.

 

"It's nothing... I shouldn't have been listening or... prying into his private emotions... but I couldn't help..." She sobs into my chest, and I run my hand through her soft hair as the sun starts to warm my back, warding away the chilly air of the autumn morning.

 

"Shhh, I know. I felt it too, after you left... I'm so sorry you had to feel that." I allow myself to sit down on the ground, not caring that my jeans will get dirty as I pull her form into me so she can completely rest against me, which she doesn't protest against as she sags against my shirt. "What happened after that?"

 

She sniffles once more, then straightens up lightly so she can lay her forehead against my shoulder. "I... I started to get... angry almost... and I wanted to h-urt hi-him..." She sobs again, as if she just killed someone. "And I... felt this...  _object_ , inside my chest. It was wispy, a thing of pure energy, and it... it allowed me to think like myself again... and it reminded me... of-"

 

"Is she alright...? We have breakfast ready..." Jack hesitantly asks from behind me, worry completely evident in his voice. "I'm so sorry, Mira... I never meant to-"

 

I silence jack with a stern look, informing him that this is not the time to tell her that. I motion back to her house with my head, and he nods, turning to head back while I help Mira. "Do you want to stay here a little longer?" I softly question her. She shakily sighs, but shakes her head and removes herself from my neck to meet my expression with a light smile.

 

"I'm alright now... thank you." I nod and help her back up onto my feet, then walk alongside her as she slowly wipes her tears away as we walk back to the house.

 

I can't help but wonder what she was talking about when she said that whatever energy was blocking the curse of absolute goodness reminded her of something... or someone. Could it be Slenderman? No... if he had the ability to do that... he could have blocked Sage's evil a long time ago. Maybe it's some _thing_  it reminded her of? Like an object or a certain type of feeling or emotion? I sigh in confusion. Whatever it was, I feel guilty, yet glad that it stopped blocking it. I thought she might throw me down the steep slope just below the path. I must have been really lucky for it to be removed before we really hurt ourselves.

 

But it still leaves two aching questions in my chest. What caused it, and will it happen again?

 

**Time Skip**

 

I give Mira a worried look as I watch her sweep up all of the spilled cinnamon powder in front of the fire. Fortunately the concoction that she had been working on survived, so she poured it into a glass for me earlier and put it in the small icebox she had stored in the basement. Jack and I exchange worried glances as I sigh and motion for Masky to follow me downstairs so I can give Jack a chance to apologize.

 

"I'll be back in a minute, Mira." I say as I move towards the hatch. She nods, sparing me a polite glance, then turns back to her work.

 

I start climbing down the rungs of the ladder with Masky close behind me, then jump out of the way for him and start trudging towards my room. Masky clears his throat behind me, letting me know that he has something to say, so I stop in the hallway and turn to give him a questioning look that allows him to speak.

 

"Um, I just wanted you to know that I didn't mean to hurt you this morning. I was being an absolute douche bag, and you didn't deserve that." I furrow my brows lightly, thinking back through this morning in confusion before he moves to speak again. "Mira and I were jealous of how close you guys are, and we thought that if we just simply told you, that you wouldn't fully understand... and I'm just such an idiot- I should have trusted you... I'm so goddamn sorry." He huffs and averts his gaze from mine in frustrated shame. My eyes widen at his confession, and I stay still for a second, processing what he just said before moving forward.

 

"It's okay, we both lost a little faith in each other, and I don't blame you. I got jealous too, remember? A little bit of jealousy strengthens a relationship, you know?" I reassuringly grin at him. There's no use in yelling at him, he already seems to have tortured himself over it enough. I lean forward and place a chaste kiss on his lips, then pull away lightly to peer up into his eyes through my eyelashes.

 

"Don't beat yourself up over it so much, just remember to trust me, and I'll trust you. But please, if something is bothering you, just talk to me about it, alright?" He sighs and lovingly places his forehead against mine, placing his hand on my upper back and pushing into me in a minimalistic sort of hug. I move forward to deepen it as I wrap my arms around his waist and brush my lips into his again, this time holding them there for a little longer before moving to put my face against his neck. He leans his head into my hair and places his other arm just above the hemline of my jeans, and we stay like that for a few seconds.

 

Once we realize we should probably get going to make sure Mira and Jack aren't too uncomfortable, I rush back to my room to get Jack's mask before meeting Masky at the ladder and climbing up the rungs again. We come back to see that the mood of the room has brightened a little more as Jack cleans up our dishes from breakfast and places them on a drying rack near the sink, and the both of us sigh in relief.

 

"Alright, I'm done. Is there anything else we can take care of or help you with before we leave?" Jack prods lightly, and Mira happily shakes her head.

 

"No, you've helped quite enough. I can handle the rest myself, thank you though."

 

Both of the boys nod before doing a once over to make sure they have all of their gear, then they meet Mira and I at the door. "I'm sorry we have to leave you like this, we should be able to come back and visit you both very soon." Jack grins as he exits through the door, giving a light wave to the both of us as he starts to walk in the direction Mira informed him was the easiest route to take back. Masky lightly kisses me on the cheek as he exits, an apology still evident in his eyes that I silently forgive him for again in a light nod.

 

"See you soon." He murmurs as he lightly waves to the both of us before moving out of the doorway to join Jack, leaving Mira to lightly shut the door with a solemn look.


	34. Concomitance

"If you would not mind, I would like to talk about the events that transpired this morning." Mira slightly furrows her brows and stares at the door knob as she continues to lightly hold it in her fingers. I silently nod and step out of the way for her so she can turn to pass me, and she hesitantly does after a few good seconds.

 

"Have you remembered anything else about what happened?" I ask as she starts decluttering the jars of herbs on her table next to the door. In my mind, I think that is the only reason why she would bring it up again. Then I remember that we were interrupted, so it could be that she never had the chance to actually reveal much.

 

"Yes. First, I have to apologize yet again for my uncouth behavior this morning- I believe the emotions that had been held down so long scrambled to get free once the bindings on them had been broken, and I said many things I wish I had not. Please forgive me for my outburst." I simply nod at her words because it looks like she wants to continue with limited interruption, then allow my back to hit the door as I bring my foot up to lean against it. "Secondly, I would like to hear your own take on any feelings or emotions you individually experienced throughout that whole ordeal."

 

I quirk a brow at her, but come to the conclusion pretty quickly that I should trust that she has a good reason for it, so I shoot down my confusion and just answer her. "I... don't think I really felt anything out of the ordinary I guess- I used my emotion reading abilities and my heightened ocular abilities just fine without any sign of interference. As for emotions, I think I was the same as ever, if I'm answering in the sense that I know where you're going with this? Something that has to do with the emotions of a Samarin?"

 

"Yes you are quite correct. But before I elaborate on my findings, I have to explain a few things. Samarin usually have a specific trace signature in accordance to their ability's caliber and type. It takes a certain amount of practice to be able to identify a trace; however it can be easier to detect if the ability was used alongside powerful emotions or feelings. I happen to mention this in an attempt to train you, but also because as I analyzed the remnants of that wisp of energy inside of myself, I found that it happened to belong to you. I simply wanted to know if you had any powerful feelings that could have enabled you to use your abilities without you detecting it so we may compare it and identify the catalyst."

 

She gives me a few moments to process this, which I thank her for it because this new information ties up a lot of loose ends for me, and I feel more than overwhelmed. It makes sense- because my ability is interception. I can block certain abilities of others, and I only recently found out I had unconsciously been using it on the Creepypastas inside the safe house. I must have been doing the same to Mira without realizing it in the same way.

 

"Now I believe your ability causes a sort of interference with other's abilities if I am correct?" I nod at her, allowing her to continue without any friction of conversation in between. She visibly brightens as she starts to piece together everything and what we could do with this information. "It would make sense that your abilities, when used on a Samarin, would work on blocking their aspects of good and evil, then! The first things that manifest when a Samarin gets their abilities is the prominence of good or evil, and it directly ties to the special abilities of a Samarin." She smacks her hands on the counter in front of her and turns her head to me with pure glee in her eyes. "Do you know what this entails? What this could possibly mean for Samarin? With you, we would not have to suffer from this curse any longer! I would not have to bear this torture! Others would not have to suffer for their lineage any longer! Oh-"

 

Mira surprises me by rushing to stand in front of me. She places her hands on my shoulders as tears well up in her eyes. She seems almost overwhelmed with happiness as she throws herself into my torso, snapping her arms around my back and crushing me into her petite frame. What sounds like a mix between laughing and crying in happiness reach my ears as her fingers grapple for the fabric of the back of my shirt, and I allow myself to wrap her into myself as well after a brief moment of shock.

 

We stay like this for a few minutes, and her sobs finally wane down to nothing as she resorts to simply grinning against my skin. Her breath hitches after a while, and she suddenly pulls away from me, taking a couple of steps back with a sheepish look. "I-I apologize, I could not help but to be excited at this prospect. If you would not mind, could we work on training this ability of yours?"

 

I grin and nod my head at her, but a conflicted look washes over my features. "I would be happy to, but I also need to work on finishing my main objective before I start working on my training. I'll have to leave to collect some things to stay connected to the news about my family's murder, and then I need to go check out an abandoned factory apparently located just south of here. It shouldn't take long, but it's been a full day since I pulled the information about where the rest of the killers are located, and I want to be sure I don't lose them again. I'll just need to run into town and get a few things to set up around the factory and stick with them so I don't lose any of them. I swear I'll be back."

 

She still seems a little bogged down by this new information, but she takes it in all the same. "Oh, do not let me interfere with your objectives then- there is always another time..." A sullen, almost worried look sets into her brow, but she smiles through it.

 

"Mira, you know I'll be back. I wouldn't leave you- especially after hearing how you feel about being a Samarin. Don't feel like I'm putting you off- I just know you'll be here when I get back, and before I can get into other things like that, I need to make sure I know where these men are at all times so I can track them down and make them pay for their pointless bloodbath- for torturing, raping, and killing my family members. Okay? I wouldn't leave you. You're impeccably strong, all I'm asking is that you be stronger for only a little longer, just until I can be able to rest easy and focus completely on helping you. The last thing I want is to make you suffer even more."

 

Mira stands only feet away from me, her stature awkward and frozen, and her expression filled with utter shock for a while. She stays like this all through my speech to her, and then a little longer after that, before her expression fades into intense resolve.

 

"Of course. It would not be right of me to inhibit you from your main objective for my own selfish reasons-"

 

I suck in a breath and step forward, gripping her shoulders before giving her a stern look. She is just too naive or nice to get it. "No- you aren't being selfish, Mira. You have every right to complain after being like this for so long. I can't imagine your pain, but I'm pleading with you to imagine mine. And once this is over, you won't have to worry about your basic inalienable right to free will being taken away from you anymore."

 

Her watery eyes search through mine for a few seconds before her smile brightens and her irises flash gold for a few seconds. "Of course. I cannot thank you enough." She reaches her hands up to lightly rest them over my knuckles, then lightly squeezes my hands before moving away. "If you do not mind, while you are getting some supplies for your outing, might you be able to grab a few things for me? If you do not have time, I can accompany you and split off from you-"

 

"No, I owe you a lot Mira. Let me do this for you. Please rest here, and I'll return to you tonight after I finish my business and get anything you need."

 

She lightly grins and nods before moving towards the table again. "You have money, do you not?"

 

"I have my credit cards and stuff in my bag that I can take, but I don't have much cash. I can stop by an ATM if I really need to, so don't worry about that."

 

"Alright. Go down and retrieve your credit cards, and by the time you return I will have found my shopping list."

 

I hum to let her know I heard her before moving to the hatch and climbing down. It doesn't take much time for me to grab my wallet, put on a sweatshirt, and a new pair of jeans before climbing back up, and true to her word, as I move to stand on the first floor again, she hands me a list scrawled in loopy, fancy cursive letters.

 

"If your own business ends up taking longer than expected and you cannot make it to the town and back here before dark, please leave the shopping to me tomorrow. I beg of you to be careful." I nimbly take her note from her fingers and fold it, then slide it into my jeans pocket.

 

"Don't worry about it, Mira. Just get some rest while I'm gone and let me take care of it, alright? I'll be back soon." I smile brightly at her before moving out of the door, then waving once before shutting it back again.

 

**Time Skip**

 

I stumble down a small, leaf filled ravine with light, huffing breaths before trudging up the opposite side. The forest is quiet, and it soothes my mind into a calm, reflective state.

 

It really is amazing how many things have happened in the span of only a few days. The only things I used to think about were which parking spots in my work parking lot were the widest so I didn't run the risk of getting my new car scratched, and if I had enough money to buy an apartment in the city to be able to live in and be near a job that I could easily support myself with. Now anytime I think about things it's whether or not I'm doing the right thing- if I'm powerful enough to protect my friends and get revenge for my family's death, and how I can do it with the abilities that have been revealed to me. It's such a total flip from how my life used to be, that I'm on the brink of being shell shocked by it.

 

I laugh out a sigh of bewilderment and stop to lean against a tree and look up through the leaves at the morning sun. I wonder if I would have liked my life better the way it used to be. Sure it was incredibly boring and monotonous, but I still had my family there to support me. Now... exciting would be an understatement. I have new, odd friends to support me, but I'm also living in a world where I don't belong to any categories. I'm an abnormality, the oddity in the mix, and I don't know if I'm comfortable with it.

 

Sometimes, the excitement and danger of it all is just a little much.

 

I let my head loll down to look down at my crossed feet in front of me with a sardonic expression. With a huff, I shove away from the tree.

 

Whatever. What's happened has already happened, and there's nothing I can do about what I am now. I can't just run away from everything now. Sure I was thrown into this world without much consent, but that doesn't mean it makes it any easier to dig myself out of this pit.

 

I shove a large bit of brush out of my way and find myself stepping into freshly mowed grass. A large parking lot stretches out before me that looks like it hasn't received any maintenance on it in a long time. There are cracks running all through the dusty grey asphalt, and the yellow parking lines are browned with age, but there are a few cars dotting the parking lot near the road.

 

I hop down off of the concrete siding and onto the pebble littered ground, then make my way to the road and cross without having to wait for any cars to pass. I move my hair over to my right shoulder and throw my hood up as I turn the corner onto a slightly busier street. The electronics store I'm looking for stands slightly off of the road in a strip mall, smooshed between a Dollar General and a Walmart. 

 

I push through the electronics store's doors first and browse around, grabbing a few cheap, remote viewing cameras and a burner phone, then sift my way through a shelf of cheap radios and grab one that I'm happy with. I figure if I can make my way to the edge of the mile parameter and set off an alarm, then I can get BEN to hook me up with some tracking devices, because there is no way any store in this city is gonna be openly advertising things like that, and I don't want to push it when the police could be still looking after me.

 

The teen at the register checks everything out, then helps me out with getting my burner set up for the last ten I fish out of my wallet, and then helps me set up my remote cameras on the phone, and finally lets me leave without saying a thing about my latent criminal status, so I assume he doesn't recognize me.

 

I glance at the Walmart, but make up my mind to come back and get the things Mira needs after I set up my equipment at the factory. After trudging back across the street and into the forest again, I figure out where I am and start walking towards the safe house.

 

It seems like forever until I finally make it to the edge, but because it takes so long, I'm caught off guard by the screeching beeping that goes off from one of the tripods set up around the borders, and end up reeling back into a tree trunk painfully with a light scream.

 

After I calm down, I quickly pinpoint the camera that caught sight of me and settle myself in front of it to wait until BEN sees that there's someone here. After a few minutes of annoying beeping grating on my ears, I finally hear a weird crackling that breaks up the noise, and step away from the camera.

 

BEN's arm slinks out of the lens, and the rest of his body follows as he hits the ground and tumbles out to end on his feet. He dusts himself of for a second, then turns around and flashes me a grin, which I meet with an unamused, but still happy look.

 

"What's up, babe? You miss me already?"

 

"You want this tripod up your ass?"

 

"Not really." He recoils as I snap my hand out and grab a hold of one of the metal legs, then relaxes when a soft look washes over my features and I let my hand fall.

 

"I actually needed some help. You know that shithead human I killed day before yesterday that made us put up all these things? I'm going after his friends, and I can't exactly make my move to kill them yet, so I was thinking about tracking them without them noticing. You got anything I can stash with 'em somewhere in your inventory?"

 

"Sure, (Y/n). Give me a sec." He replies. He takes out his phone and pulls up his browser to look for what I'm asking for. I'm slightly surprised that he uses my name, but as I curiously look at him, I can tell that he seems happy to see me again. I didn't know he liked me that much, but he seems glad to speak with me again.

 

"Here you go," he murmurs as he pulls a handful of tiny tracking devices no bigger than my fingertip out of his phone. He dumps them into my hoodie pocket, then deftly grabs my phone from my back pocket and taps around on it for a second before holding it out to me again. "There. I set each one to show up on your maps app. I also copied and transferred all of my contacts onto this phone in case you need to call any of us for anything."

 

I take my phone with an appreciative grin and nod at him.

 

"So, do you need any help setting things up around those shits? I can call Masky to help you, or I can get someone to monitor the cameras for me so you can get done with this as fast as possible."

 

I raise my eyebrows in surprise. I wouldn't think that he would offer to help that much, yet here he is. I thought he was more careless than that.

 

"Sure, if you don't mind, could you come along?" I deadpan at his raised eyebrows and evil little smirk. "Just promise you won't annoy me."

 

"Don't worry babe, you've been through enough these past couple days. I'll go easy on ya." He lightly punches my arm, and I find myself snickering with him. Maybe this won't be too bad after all.

 

**Time Skip**

 

"Wow, when you said they were pieces of shit, you meant it." BEN snorts beside me as we make our way back to the house.

 

"Did you think I was kidding?"

 

"Well, no, but I didn't expect them to be fat, crack head hicks lazing around drinking beer."

 

"They murdered an entire block of people to cover up a drug operation."

 

"Oooh. So then they're fat, crack head hicks who actively deal drugs and drink all day."

 

"Precisely. And when I get my hands on them they're gonna hope they have enough drugs in their system that they won't feel their ribs being ripped of their chests."

 

"I know you're kidding, but Jack's ripped the arm of some druggie once when he slapped him, and dude, he didn't feel a thing. Just started screaming when he slipped on his own blood, then turned to realize he was missing a limb. Took him a good few minutes."

 

"Enlightening. So I should capture 'em and get them to sober up first?"

 

"Yep. That way they can feel everything." He laughs lightly as he pats my shoulder. On our way there I told him what really happened to me that night I came to the safe house, and then what my sister had done to me for me to scream so loud, I broke his TV right in the middle of an unsaved game. He quickly forgave me for it.

 

We went around and placed many of the tiny circular tracking devices in things they would always take with them, then set up the cameras in the best places to track where every one of them is at inside of the factory space. I have to admit, it would have taken me at least another hour for me to put everything in their places, and without BEN being able to crawl through their phones and other electronics and place trackers in, I would have been there yet another hour on top of setting up the cameras. I'm glad he came.

 

Plus, true to his word, he hasn't been a flirty annoyance this whole time.

 

I place a hand over my eyes and look into the sky as the conversation fades into silence, and notice that by the time I will get to the supermarket, it will be dark.

 

"When we get back, do you want me to bring any of the guys out to see you? I'm sure I'd get in trouble if I brought you in with me, because Slendick can sense you, but I can take 'em out to you."

 

I laugh at his own nickname for Slenderman, but shake my head. "No, that's alright. I'd be happy if you guys stopped by Mira's tomorrow though. Just give me a call and we'll get some stuff prepared for lunch or dinner or something."

 

"Sure, sounds pretty good." He folds his elbows behind his head and looks up into the cloudless sky. We walk in silence for a good thirty minutes, miraculously, until we hit another one of the sensors and it goes off, scaring us. BEN quickly disarms it and turns to wave at me. "You sure there isn't anything I can get you before I leave? A kiss perhaps?" He puckers his lips, and I lightly smack his forehead with a playful grin.

 

"Nope. Nothing I can think of. But thanks."

 

"Then I'll see ya soon, sweetheart."

 

I roll my eyes and sigh. "Goodbye,  _BEN_."

 

He snickers as he places his hand back into the camera lens, and it echoes around me eerily as his body disappears from sight.

 

I bemusedly shake my head at him, then turn on my heels and make my way back towards the supermarket. The sun quickly sets as a cloud front rolls in to cover the stars, so I kick in my night vision and pad into the store with my hood up again.

 

Getting the things on Mira's list is a cinch, and I grab a few good snacks and my favorite soups, then throw in a few ingredients for a pie I can make in her old-fashioned oven and merrily make my way back to the register. The cashier that rings me up is nice enough and makes polite, and funnily enough, dark humorous conversation with me about how much he hates working there as he gives me a random coupon book and rings me up with all of the almost expired coupons, which leaves me at half the cost I started out with, then the guy bids me farewell and goes back to scrolling lazily through his phone with no real customers to help out.

 

Hiking my bags up onto my arms, I wonder if I could steal a cart to wheel up the slope to Mira's house, but think against it only because I realize that the trees are way too goddamn thick for the stupid cart to get through.

 

I trudge through the forest, grumbling for a little bit before resigning myself to listening to the breeze blowing through the leaves. But only about five minutes into my silence, a creeping sense of nausea travels up my spine.

 

The air feels stagnant and cold as a wave of goose bumps shoots across my skin, and I find my eyes snapping around the unusually dark atmosphere. I listen hard for any clinking metal claws as a vision of the Rake flashes through my mind, and look for any movement whatsoever, then when I pinpoint a tiny wisp of breath from up in a nearby tree, I drop my bags and bolt forward to slam my fist into whatever is in the tree before it can pounce on me first, but for some odd reason...

 

...the tree  _disappears_.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Phew. I feel like this chapter is lacking, so I might change it, but it kind of sets up for the next chapter? I've been doing revisions, so I had to jump from being involved in preparing my anus for Sage- ( ಠ ͜ʖಠ)- to this shit, and I had trouble changing mindsets for a bit. It probably shows, so I'll probably go back in and rewrite this once I get caught up in editing, so fair warning ig. Hope you enjoyed! :)


	35. Rapprochement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Sorry for postponing, I was juggling homework and this stuff yesterday, and it just wasn't working out. I hope you can enjoy this chapter though, but I'll never know what you're thinking unless you tell me, so please comment- I'll get back to you indefinitely if there are any questions or anything, and all criticism is welcome as well. Don't pull your punches, it's alright, I want to know. But regardless, thanks for all your support and I appreciate you even just checking in every week. :)

 

 

**Your POV**

 

I suck in a large amount of breath and hold it as the object in front of me suddenly winks out of my vision and flail a little bit as I stumble into the now open space of ground in front of me that I was originally aiming to push away from as I reached the tree, then whip around as soon as I regain my balance. My eyes flit around again as I hone in on my immediate surroundings and increase my vision and hearing to the highest possible degree that I can take it to, despite how much it hurts, then I slowly scour the trees again.

A ripping noise fills my ears to my left, and as I whip around to slam my fist into the thing, I find something wrapping around my wrist, abruptly halting it before I can barely even follow through. I bolt back, but my feet only slip on the grass as my captured arm stays in place. I deftly recognize the thing on my wrist just as I go to scream, and hesitate, which allows the thing in front of me to speak. "Please, do not fret. I am not here to hurt you, despite what you may think." A voice booms in my ears from where the ripping came from, which causes me to whimper in pain and shock, jerking against my restraints.

The thing holding my wrist lets up with surprise at my pain, and I fully realize what it is as the black thing slinks back up into what I thought was a tree, which, when I get a better look at it, I astonishingly realize is actually Slenderman.

"What the fuck are you doing _here_?" I snap. This idiot should be in the house protecting everyone, for one, and there is no goddamn reason he should be out here talking to me. He could have been ripped up again by my scream, and nobody would be out here to patch him back up besides me. And who knows how much time it takes for my abilities to take effect- I could be draining him of power right now, and it infuriates me that he's out here risking himself when he's supposed to be protecting my friends.

"I simply wanted to inform you of a few things. In your absence, I have been able to store up a sufficient amount of energy to not only protect the safe house, but to also channel energy through to my brothers as well, who have, in addition, stored energy in their individual locations."

"You seem to have gone through a lot of preparation just to come out here." I sneer as I rub my wrist, red from being held too tightly.

"Indeed, I have. I wanted to apologize to you. It is not hard to conclude on what both Mister Nyras and Masky conversed with you about during their outing last night, and I simply wanted a chance to explain myself. This will not take long."

I stop rubbing my wrist to look up at him scoldingly, but still hesitantly nod to spur him to continue talking. He's not going to take no for an answer, so the sooner he finishes, the sooner he can get back to protecting my family. He sucks in a breath, then lets it out in a light puff of steam against the chilly air as wispy threats of his ripped papery skin blow in the air like spider silk. "I suppose I should start off at the beginning, where I started realizing your differences and suspecting you. Your enhanced abilities should have disappeared soon after you used them for the first time, but they stayed with you, and they were more effective than any other Creepypasta's even with your lack of training. When your life was threatened by your sister, you proved you could also resist my mind manipulation, and to be quite frank, it terribly frightened me. I obsessed over your abilities and watched for any foul play, but you proved that you only wanted to protect them as I do, but I could not help but doubt. I sent you to Liechtenstein with the intention of monitoring your ability's effect and your intentions as well as drive, and in my fear of you, of the interference you brought, and the looming threat of your death being on my hands, I acted irrationally. I should not have sent them, but I could not have gone myself when I regained all of my abilities even if I wanted to, and I did not want your death. My indecisiveness and indirect approach almost cost you your life, and I apologize."

He pauses to gauge my expression, which stays blankly neutral and hides my emotions. He softly breathes out a sigh, then continues.

"Your welcoming was pitiful, however I could not think of what to say to you in that moment. Your removal was necessary, even though I find the timing quite unbefitting. I am sure you understand that. You simply posed too much of a threat, whether intentional or not, whether Samarin or not." He steps forward, looming over me with an almost overbearing presence, but I don't back up, even as he places a light, reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Your position as Samarin frightens me as well, as much as I hate to admit it. I, most of all, should understand that not every Samarin is evil or out to attack the Creepypastas, but the potential every Samarin has puts the system my brothers and I have worked to create and protect in a dangerous position, and when threatened we often times react in rash ways- as I am sure Miss Leori shared testimony for. Its protection is an innate responsibility we have developed now, and if it were to be uprooted..." His voice trails off, but the dread in his voice makes the rest of the sentence clear. He lets his hand fall from my shoulder as my expression stays unchanging.

His speech has already played out in my head before. I understand his intentions, and I'm glad that he admits his rashness. My neutral expression breaks into a small, reassuring and understanding smile finally. He looks relieved- well as much as he can without any real facial features. "I know," I softly murmur, "I could always kind of understand your intentions, so I don't think I'm the one you should be explaining this to." My smile turns into a worried frown as I remember Jack and Masky's contempt for the tall being in front of me.

"I understand, and I have made my decisions with careful deliberation over the repercussions of putting the needs of many over the needs of the few. I personally find myself not at all minding it being seen as the monster, being called a racist and a horrible being, if it means that I can protect those who need protecting, whether they understand the gravity and severity of the situation or not."

My smile returns. I find myself really respecting him yet again, and agreeing with him as he takes the time to make sure I understand his intentions, despite the fact he says he doesn't care about his image. I'm knocked out of my thoughts as a deep, soft laughter hums out of his throat and fills the space between us. It's shocking to say the least, and I take a step back because it's so unexpected, unconsciously reading his emotions in my shock, only to feel a contentedness emanating off of him as well as a hint of self-directed dark amusement.

"It is odd how goals can change in a lifetime. It is hard to believe there was a time where I would not even bother in thinking about explaining myself to you, having cast you aside as a mere pawn in a greater game with no pure intentions in sight- only to serve in aiding the King in its check." He cryptically murmurs mostly to himself, letting his words drift off into the breeze as he looks off into the forest. I quirk my brow and bend to rearrange my bags upon my shoulders with little thought to decoding his words in my tired and soothed state of mind.

I struggle as a couple of bags slip down my arm when I go to grab a last one, but suddenly there is a pale hand holding the bags back into the crook of my arm. His skin is smooth, almost like silk against my arm as he brushes against it when he pulls away, and I can't help but think of the fragility of it as I spot more strands of his skin dancing in the soft breeze of the hills going through the trees. He then adds the last bag on for me with gentle precision and then allows me to stand back up to my full height. I appreciatively raise my lips into a grin, which he meets in a way with the pulling of the limited muscles by his mouth.

"Thank you for understanding. I only wanted you to know your friends are in good hands and to ease your mind. To talk to you face-to-face was a risk worth taking after the torture and pain you endured. I deeply grateful to you and commend you for your efforts regardless of the tragic outcome, but I also appreciate your understanding as well. I wish your stay in the house could have been longer and without the conflict of this interference creating this barrier between you and the Creepypastas, but as I have stated, I will sacrifice everything I have for the well being of those I want to protect, but I can only protect so many."

"I understand. Thanks for seeing me personally. But you should go back and make sure you and all the rest of the CPs are all protected if you really want to thank me."

He nods, bidding me farewell in the form of a small pat on my head as he strides past me and out of my sight. Seconds later, I hear the telltale sucking noise of him teleporting away from me, then allow myself to slump against a tree next to me. The harsh feel of the bark wakes me back up and stirs more thoughts up as they flow throughout my mind. Really, I'm just kind of glad he came to talk to me and clear up my doubts.

But in the end, I think he unintentionally gave me one more doubt to think about. He described how he was before. I can only wonder what happened to change him to someone like this; admittant, self-sacrificial, and humble. From what he described, this is a total 180. Only so many things can happen in a lifetime to change someone like that, and as I move to shove myself off of the tree to trek up the steepening hill to Mira's I can't help but entertain all of the possibilities of what he has lived through in my head.

Time Skip

A soft thump causes me to jolt under the covers and open my eyes to stare into the pure darkness of the space next to my bed. I suck in a large breath as I feel something slowly creeping over the side of my neck from behind, tickling the skin and sending pulses of icy dread to ripple through my body. After my initial shock, I throw my body away from the feeling and twist in the same movement to bat at whatever monstrous, spindly-legged creature found its way into my bed, but all my fingers brush against is a wall of pencil-straight blonde hair.

Mira chuckles at my terror as her hair sways uneventfully back at my vicious swipe at it, mocking me along with her voice.

"Dammit Mira, you scared the shit out of me!" I shakily and hurriedly whisper yell at her. I clench my hand over my chest to keep my heart from coming loose from its fixed place and fall into my already nauseous stomach. She only covers her mouth and titters even louder.

"You truly are a timorous young woman. I was merely waking you up!"

"It is pitch black, and there are things crawling up my neck, uh-uh, I'm not tim-or whatever, I'm _justified_!" I pout, gathering my sheets up into my fists and yanking them up towards my shoulders as the chilly air of her basement relentlessly bathes my skin in goose bumps.

She smiles with mirth and hops excitedly off of the bed. "I thought you would want to wake up- I made breakfast, and I'm planning on helping you train today! During your absence, I was able to lay out my strengths and applicable knowledge that would best help you improve and understand your abilities, and I am happy to say that I have found the best course of action to help you get where you need to be in, at most, a week!"

"That's great." I deadpan at her enthusiasm. It's too early to be this fucking happy. I drag my hand down my face to lazily knock the sand out of the corners of my eyes, then pull my bottom lip down with my hand as it catches on the top ridge of my palm and let it flip back up with a 'plip' noise that makes Mira giggle a little. If she were Jack, he'd have been knocked flat on his ass five minutes ago. Which reminds me, "Hey Mira, I saw one of the guys on my way back yesterday, and I was thinking about inviting a few of them to lunch or something. If you don't want to come, I can run back to the store real quick and get extra supplies and go somewhere else for a while. Did you see the bags I brought in?"

When I got back to the house last night, Mira had already fallen asleep in her bed with her face half covered with an incredibly large hardback book, so I let her be. I thought if I woke her up, she'd almost break her neck trying to move under that heavy thing.

"Yeah, I shelved them all this morning and gave you your own cabinet. Most of my possessions are strewn about the cellar and on that table in the main room, thus I rarely use cabinets." She shrugs. I laugh a little and allow my feet to slide off of the bed. I slouch as soon as I push myself off, the covers falling away from my front to smack the tops of my feet. "And that sounds like a fine idea- you should not have to worry, I am certain we could work out a pitch in of a variety of snacks or something of that nature. I am sure they would be happy to oblige, and holding it here is indubitably acceptable- you should not have to even ask."

I grin at her response. "Well, I just wanted to make sure, since I'm acting as a guest here right now in your house, but yeah, that sounds good. Would dinner be better?"

"Mm, yes I believe that would be the best time seeing as it is nearly lunch time as of right now."

" _What_?!" I exclaim as I rush to put on some clothes for a second, then realize that I have nothing to really do besides train and then get everything put together for having the CPs over later and slow down again. She quirks a grin at me with impish amusement, which I roll my eyes at. "So, you said something about a training schedule?" I mumble as I finish getting ready.

"Oh, yes! Back when I shared a residence with my previous teacher, I learned many techniques for effectively channeling my abilities and being able to use them in ways that even some Samarin are never able to achieve on their own in the entirety of their lifetimes. I believe I am capable of relaying them to you."

I stop and stand near her as she sits at the edge of my bed, peering up at me with barely repressed excitement. "You used to have a teacher?" I furrow my brows. I guess it would make sense I guess, but the only way you could truly teach another Samarin is for them to be good- and from what Mira said, she is one of the rare few that are running around right now.

"Oh yes, a well-renowned scholar that sought me out during my college years. I was much like you now- my parents had gone through a nasty divorce when I was young, and my mother- who carried the Samarin gene- left me with my father due to her unstable nature. I did not know what my abilities even were, and I nearly was found out one evening on my way back from class as they started to manifest. I was crossing the street and an inebriated young man clipped my side and ran over my foot. As you can imagine, in my shock I accidentally healed it very quickly with my lack of control as my repressed potential came spilling out, however, there were many onlookers who saw what happened and began to panic. My professor happened to be there to handle the situation, and from then on taught me what I was and what I should expect. I believe I could say that we have something in common as Samarin, with us both having been thrown into our fate without warning."

"Wow, I guess for some reason I thought you had just figured all of this out for yourself." I blink and mull over what she said. It's hard to think about how she could have started off just as oblivious as I was because she's just so insightful about it now.

 

"Oh goodness no! I am not nearly that talented." She blushes and turns her gaze away, placing a light hand over her cheek to further obscure her embarrassed expression for a second before she lets her hand drop to talk to me again. "However, you are extremely proficient in using your abilities for only having been privy to this information and having access to your abilities for such a short amount of time. You make my job easy- you are a natural." She grins reassuringly as she meets my gaze, then hops up from the bed dramatically and holds her fists in front of her with a confident grin. "So, I shall teach you after your meal. I find the prospect of teaching you quite riveting." Her brimming excitement gently pulls at her pale pink skin and makes her seem almost maniacal in the low light. I find myself softly laughing as she bounces past me to move out into the hallway again. I watch her hair swish against her hips as she walks with a spring in her step as I follow her, and feel her happiness rubbing off on me.

 

"So, what type of things do you do to control your abilities?" I curiously ask as she moves up the ladder in front of me.

 

"Ah, many of the practices that I was taught to follow show a similarity to the five faculties of Buddhism which they follow in order to direct spiritual energy, although this training is nowhere near as rigorous as in the Buddhist faith. They simply set effective guidelines in realizing and controlling the mind and self- just as the Ten Commandments create a set of morals that are good guidelines to follow in today's society, whether you follow the faith or not. Simply because a set of practices are used in a religion does not mean they are solely restricted to that religion and cannot be applied elsewhere."

 

"Mhm." I hum in affirmation. I guess that's right, I just hadn't realized how much religion plays into daily life without me realizing it.

  
  


In no time she is ushering me out of the hatch in the floor and onto the couch, where she then tells me to fold my legs and hands me a plate with little square shaped rolls of puffy bread that is sprinkled in cinnamon and powdered sugar. She then hands me two little things that look like shot glasses; one is filled with melted chocolate, and one is filled with warm honey. Then she hands me a glass of the type of drink she made yesterday which feels cold against my fingertips and immediately fogs up around my fingers.

  
  


"This looks great, you really outdid yourself."

  
  


I grin up at her as she snaps her eyes away and folds her hands together behind her back as she murmurs a small "thank you" under her breath, then turns to stoke the fire a little before moving behind the couch.

  
  


I finish the breakfast quickly and put my dishes in the sink to wash later, because Mira keeps pacing around and looking back at me, then at the door, then boredly sifts through the herbs on her table, then paces around again impatiently. When she sees me walking towards her, she beams up at me and rocks on her toes excitedly.

  
  


She goes to say something, but then stops and rushes past me, which surprises me and makes me step to the side bewilderedly. I turn to see her hoisting a bag over her shoulder before she proudly trudges back to the door, going past me without a glance until her hand is ghosting the knob.

  
  


Her hair flips over the duffel bag as she looks back at me, quirking her lips and brow with a challenge in her eyes. "So, are you ready?"

  
  


"As I'll ever be." I smirk, accepting the silent challenge she presents.

  
  



	36. Indriya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Hey guys, so we get some good philosophical shiet this chapter, which I guess would be kinda boring to some, but I just wanted to say that it's IMPORTANT, okay? The self-realization tree hugger crap is needed to help you see the improvements in the abilities and mind and stuff and to explain how it all works cuz this is allll new shiet to you guys. Next chapter has a bunch of drunk and hilarious and sexy CP bois in it. So you get a reward for all the philosophical bull. XD Anyways, I hope you enjoy and get a little fun out of the boring drivel that is the refractory period for this story. I swear the real shit will be happening real soon. Thanks for reading! :)

 

 

Mira turns back around and twists the knob, throwing the door open before stepping outside. My smirk turns into an amused grin at her child-like excitement, and I allow her to parade herself out of the doorway and into the incredibly shaded part of the forest past the vines parting over the door. I gently close the door behind me, then continue walking after her as she makes her way around the side of the pool below the waterfall.

 

She skips over the smooth shale in her bare feet where the rocks rise up so the stream trickles beneath the soles of her feet, and jumps with every step because of the cold, but grins playfully to herself as she plays a game with herself in the water all the way across. I shake my head in worried disbelief as a shiver runs down my spine from the cold, and I don't have any clue as to how she can parade around here in the fall with only a tiny little dress and the curtain of hair flowing over her shoulders to warm her.

 

She stops at the edge of the running waterfall and looks over her shoulder at me, so I come near her with a questioning look on my face.

 

"Make sure that you place your hands where you see mine go. Do not be apprehensive about getting wet- especially if it involves taking a risky path that could possibly lead to you tumbling down this immense waterfall, or taking a wet path. You do not want to endure the process of waiting for your body to slowly piece you together, then feel your soul snap back into consciousness after a three-hour wait. It truly is the worst possible feeling imaginable, and I'm sure you would rather get wet than die." She says almost mechanically as it pierces through her playful attitude and makes her speaking seem out of place. I give her an incredibly nervous and incredibly skeptical grin.

 

"There... has to be another way, right?" I push my teeth together to suppress a shiver even as the words leave my mouth.

 

"Unfortunately, there is not- the path off to our left drops off into a great chasm and is impossible to climb, and our right option is so steep and rocky that we might cause the rocks to fall on top of us with even the slightest breath. They level out only slightly on the other side of this hill, however this stretches out for a very long distance, and the soil is perpetually muddy, and my previous climb up that side sent me tumbling back down to the bottom too many times for me to count."

 

I apprehensively nod, my lips forming a grimace as I think of climbing up the waterfall in this weather, but suck it up as she turns back around and starts her ascent.

 

The spray from the water hitting my hands causes my fingers to tingle, but they never go completely numb, so I push through and make sure to follow her closely as we reach the first shelf, take a break, then continue onto an even higher, steeper shelf. She glides over the rocks with little fear of falling, if any, and consistently looks back at me to make sure I'm putting my hands in the right place.

 

It's intense, but also exhilarating as I risk my life with every new step, and eventually the cold leaves me with intense focus and exercise, although my fingers still tingle and slowly move with cold muscles. About halfway up the sun can finally reach us, but even as it beats down on the both of us, I still shiver with every harmless breeze. If I look behind me, I can see the exact place that I spotted the large cliff days before and moved down to see the waterfall for the first time. It feels like months ago compared to now, though.

 

Mira hoists herself up over yet another shelf of the waterfall just above the halfway point and helps me over it as I make my way towards it. Once I'm over and see that the part of this ledge in front of me is dry, I roll over onto it and lay my back against the semi-warm rocks.

 

Mira laughs and pats my shoulder from where she sits before getting up and dusting herself off. "Go ahead and rest, (Y/n). Take in the view while I get ready." She smiles and winks before picking up her bag and moving off behind me and towards the far left side of the waterfall.

 

After a minute of laying there with my eyes closed, I allow myself to rise up and take in the scenery. The shelf we are on stretches back pretty far, and at the furthest part back, there is a large pool from where the water has beaten down on the rocks, and the ledge has enough of an angle that the excess water on top of the pool trickles down over the rocks in tiny blanketing streams that meet at the edge and conjoin to make a larger, more impressive flow. I follow the water until I reach the cliff, then let my eyes wander over the landscape.

 

Vast amounts of trees dot the hills near me to where it looks like someone took oil paint and smudged all of them it. They fan out towards the bottom of the hills, then trickle out in the valley between the hills on my side and the ones in the far distance. There's only one other spot that is different from the rest, where a huge mass of evergreen trees clump together. I can see the house from here, but to anyone else, it might just look like a grassy clearing dotted with flowers. I hum and cross my legs out in front of me as they reach the very edge of the shelf and hum as I map out the last few days events in my head while I wait.

 

"Al-right." Mira pointedly remarks as she claps her hands together, then swipes her palms over each other a couple times to knock off any more dust that could have found its way into her palms. She grins and places her hands on her hips as she directs her body towards mine a little more by twisting, then tilts her head and beckons for me to come over and pick up the white, one-piece bathing suit laying on top of her bag, just over a really soft looking tow-

 

Wait. Did I just see-

 

I scan over the materials a couple more times to be sure I am seeing correctly, then deadpan. "You  _must_  be kidding."

 

Mira only laughs at me and shakes her head. "This is the easiest way to allow you to focus. Please dress in this and sit down in the stream."

 

"You are insane. You are punishing me for coming back late. What did I break?" I list off anything that could have allowed her to think this was a rational way to train me- anything that could have pissed her off in even the slightest of ways, but keeping more drastic ones to myself.

 

"No, I assure you that I am perfectly sane." She chuckles behind her hand. "If it is any consolation, I am willing to join you-"

 

"Yes. Please." I give her a wild-eyed look, trying my best to see if she is kidding, but either she is hiding it  _incredibly_ well, or she truly has gone off her rocker and wants me to sit on that god-forsaken ledge in like 50 degrees of windy Fall weather in fucking  _freezing cold water_.

 

"Chop, chop! Get dressed!" She bounces in excitement again, then moves past me to plop down right in the middle of the main flow of the trickling water. A heart-rendering shiver whips across my back and down the back of my legs.

 

I begrudgingly get dressed and hesitantly join her in the water, hissing with every step into the water, but refusing to flinch back so I get accustomed to it better. Once I join her and follow her example by crossing my legs in the flow, she grins to match my grimace, which makes my expression darken even more.

 

"I swear if my ass freezes off and gets stuck to these rocks you're getting thrown off," I grumble. She laughs brightly at my threat and pats my shoulder with a miraculously warm hand.

 

"I would not expect any less from you." Her grin grows wider, then lessens as she closes her eyes and places her hands in the stream, letting the water bunch up behind her hand and flow over it in a tiny crystalline-looking bump. "I can understand your discomfort, however as soon as you learn to focus the energy within you, that discomfort will flow away from you in the water beneath you. Try to envision that within your mind and it will come easier to you."

 

I raise a brow at her incredibly hippy-esque statement, but nonetheless, I try to close my eyes and do as she says. I focus on the numbing water beneath me and let the feel of it rushing across my skin take over my mind, drowning out anything else. The cold feeling inside my muscles throbs every second or two, so I locate it and try to, I guess, push it out of my system to let leave me and go into the water. It takes a lot of concentration and many attempts, but after a while the feeling of coldness leaves me.

 

Mira must be watching my expressions because she starts talking as soon as a smile graces my lips from my achievement.

 

"Good, now focus on the sun hitting your skin, then try to pull the subtle warmth of it into you, pull it down with your mind and bring it into your skin. Now that you have completed your first task, remember the victory and increase the faith in yourself and your control over this ability.

 

I listen and follow her words again, my smile widening as my body becomes as warm as it would be in the sunshine of a warm summer's day. She continues to speak. "Now remember the feeling of the energy coursing through your body, flowing as the water does over your skin, and share the warmth that you feel from the sun with the water- channel the energy through you like a continuous river."

 

I try to hold back a little laugh because of how ridiculously philosophical she sounds, but a tiny bit of it escapes my lips and breaks a little of my concentration. I gain it back as I hurriedly clear my thoughts and focus on the sun rays hitting me, then try to direct it into the water around me. As I do, I can deftly feel it almost scald my skin, which I jump at, but immediately decrease the flow within me unconsciously- like turning the tap back a little- and turn the temperature to being moderately warm.

 

Mira places her hand in the water by my waist to check my work, then hums happily, which causes me to smile. "Good job, now you can decrease that flow into the water and simply keep it within you. Feel where that energy seeps through your skin and follow it, and at the end of the path you should feel something similarly warm, yet different as well."

 

I follow her instructions and monitor the flow of energy running through me towards my chest, where it swirls around a part within me, but doesn't ever touch it, as if it is a positive and negative charge of a magnet. I nod my head once I've found it.

 

"Now that you know what the energy of warmth feels like as it flows through you and how to pull it to you, apply that knowledge to the different energy within you and try to move it outwards. Try to direct it towards me." She moves and places her hand over mine to help me a little more, then takes in a small breath.

 

I go ahead and pull at the familiar energy bundled into a ball in my chest and direct the flow of it towards my shoulder, then down my arm and into my hand, then allow it to travel into Mira. I can immediately feel the shift of how the energy in her feels compared to mine, and it's a little hard to explain the difference, but it's like knowing the smell of a lilac versus a rose- you can't explain it much, but you know they are different because of how they make you feel.

 

But as soon as the energy reaches her, she sucks in a sharp breath, which breaks my immersed mindset and concentration, and I pull my hand away for fear that I'm hurting her, my eyes snapping open to meet hers. Her eyes move open to meet my worried gaze just after mine, and her contented expression turns to a frown.

 

"Why did you stop?" She asks with an accusative tone. I raise my eyebrow.

 

"You scared me- I thought I was hurting you."

 

She flicks her eyes to my hand with a look in her eyes that makes me think she might try to rip it off to continue to receive the flow of energy to her, but just as she looks like she might actually do it and I start to turn just in case I need to run, she rapidly blinks and shakes her head in what looks like slight disorientation. 

 

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry about that, the energy I received must have blocked the pure goodness in me quicker than I thought. It was more potent than I expected it to be." She nervously laughs. "A-anyways, that was a very good first attempt- you have performed exceptionally and with incredible mastery for your inexperience."

 

She sighs happily and pops up from the ground almost too quick for my eyes to see, then moves to grab the towel on her bag and whistles for my attention before throwing it at me. I catch it effortlessly and move to get up before drying myself off completely as I walk over to her. She is already pretty much dried off because she must have hiked up her dress to keep it dry, but she dries off with my towel before putting it back into the bag. She gives me a bottle of water to drink from, which I greedily accept, then I change back into my warmer clothes. I realize pretty quickly that I'm incredibly hot with them on because I had been unconsciously still directing the warmth into my body, holding it around the ball of my own energy in my chest and keeping me warm. I go ahead and push most of it out of me and into the ground, but keep just enough of it to keep distinct parts of my body warm where my clothes can't- like my hands and my ears and nose.

 

I turn back to Mira as moves the bag back onto her shoulder. "Hey Mira, so what exactly was I directing? Like energy from the sun, or what?" I confusedly ask.

 

"Well, you used your own ability to detect the energy the water and the sun gave off, which happened to be temperature or heat energy, by naturally using your inherent Samarin abilities to direct it towards you and detect it. You can often do the same things with the emotions of different beings from the energy you give off as well. After that, you then used the energy of the ability already inside of you to channel that different energy through yourself and pushed it out using yours. So imagine it as... using your ability as a hand to pick up something, and then using it to place it somewhere else," she explains by moving her hands around in front of her. "I had you learn all five faculties of Buddhism concerning energy manipulation without your knowledge. First you felt the energy and worked to be able to guide that energy as you desired by using perseverance and by keeping a calm mind, then once you knew you could do it, you had the faith in yourself that you could do it and had a strong conviction, and so you used the memory of directing the energy to convert and direct flow, and this created the understanding and vague comprehension that did not have words to describe it yet." 

 

"...Wow." I murmur in slight shock. I didn't know I was doing all of that in what seemed like a simple thing. She really put a lot into this.

 

Mira chuckles and pats me on the shoulder. "Alright, we should begin our descent so you will be able to call your friends over in time. But first, congratulations on your advances in energy manipulation. You will be able to control your energy in due time. For now you don't have full control over it so it spills out of you. It will come with practice, but for now you have improved by leaps and bounds."

 

"Thanks Mira, I couldn't have done it without you." I grin in appreciation, and she happily, yet embarrassedly waves it off with her hand.

 

"Think nothing of it." She smiles in delight, then turns and moves her hand for me to follow as we start to move back down the waterfall again.

 

**Time Skip**

 

"This better be a wrong number or I'll track you down and rip out your throat."

 

"Jeez Masky, what crawled up your ass?" I playfully say as I laugh. His breath hitches on the other side in realization, which causes me to giggle a little more.

 

"(Y/n)? Shit, sorry, but... how the hell did you get my number?" He rasps through the phone.

 

"I was out yesterday and got a new phone. BEN put everyone's contacts in for me 'cause I had to stop by and get some trackers from him yesterday."

 

"Oh... okay, so then why are you calling me?" He confusedly asks.

 

"Well, I was thinking that a few of you guys could come up and eat dinner with Mira and I. We just got back from doing some training, and I think we want to celebrate a little bit. We're cooking, so you guys can just come on up and hang out for a little bit if you don't mind the walk."

 

"Oh yeah, sure, that sounds cool. Hold on a sec, I'll ask who wants to go really quick."

 

"Sure."

 

I listen patiently as I hear him ask out loud if anybody wants to come up to Mira's house for dinner to "celebrate something". I snicker as he flippantly talks, and wonder if he is sitting in the living room with the other guys, then immediately start to miss being there with all of them, even if I probably will get to see them tonight.

 

"What'cha talking a-about? A ce-elebration? I want to go- I'm g-going." I faintly hear Toby have a one-sided conversation on the other side of the phone.

 

"No, Toby. You'll ruin it, and you know it." Masky scolds him.

 

"No I-I won't!" He whines. "I won't bre-eak anything, I swe-ar!"

 

I can hear Masky move back into the phone with a defeated sigh. "Can you hear my eyes rolling over there?" He grumbles, which makes me laugh.

 

"I can st-till hear you!"

 

"So?"

 

"So I'll beat your ass!"

 

" _Bet_." Masky off-handedly scoffs.

 

I jerk the phone away from my ear as the sound of it smacking on the floor reaches my ears. "Guys?" I ask through the phone, but all I can hear is scuffling and growling for a few seconds before the phone is picked up off of the ground. The person on the other end sighs, then speaks into the phone.

 

"Hello, who is this?"

 

I grin. I automatically recognize Jack's voice through the phone. "Hey, it's (Y/n). Got Masky's number from BEN yesterday when I stopped by for a bit."

 

"Oh nice, I'm going to come by the way. So is Hoodie and Masky and... Toby. Jeff's out for the night to look for people to keep tabs on, so it's just gonna be us."

 

"That's fine. We're cooking, so you can just head on over whenever. I know it's a pretty long walk."

 

"Well, not much anymore actually. Masky and Hoodie do jobs for Slenderman sometimes, so he shares his teleportation ability with them, so they can teleport us there or at least a good distance near you depending on energy and the mass they have to teleport."

 

"Sounds cool."

 

"So what are you celebrating? Masky said you were celebrating something." He asks with a hint of amusement in his tone- probably from seeing the other two rough housing.

 

"Oh, Mira and I did some training this morning and I managed to direct energy really well, which I guess is the fundamental of being a Samarin, and then I managed to unconsciously learn all of the 'faculties of Buddhism', as Mira calls it, and mastered redirecting flow and stuff like that."

 

"Oh, that's awesome! You seem to be pretty far along."

 

"Yeah, she says I'm doing well. I still have a ways to go, though."

 

"Nice. Oh, I forgot, this is actually pretty good timing. Masky and I went snooping around the house to look for any hidden away texts or anything while Slenderman was out of the house last night, and we managed to find a box of things that don't belong to any of the residents in the house. We couldn't look through it before we got back, and it could be nothing, but we found it. He's out of the house right now, but he's still close, so we might be detected and be forced to pitch it, so we just have it hidden in Masky's room right now. He says that he is going to go check in on his brothers around 6 PM and he'll be back around 1 or 2 AM, so we can get the box out to you then. We didn't find anything else in the house, but we didn't get to look in his office at all. We might check before we head out."

 

"Sounds good." I hesitantly say. After meeting with Slender last night, I respect him again, but I feel conflicted because I want to know what he is hiding, and I want to know if I can find info for what he said about how he used to be before now and find out what could have been caused by something big that nobody seems to know about, but for some reason I also don't want to destroy that respect again. Huh. Weird. Maybe his mind manipulation  _is_ working on me. I laugh at the thought.

 

"Alright, what time do you want us to come up?"

 

"Whenever is fine. We can get things cooking around five thirty and you guys can eat in the sunlight at least a little bit. If you don't make it, we could eat inside too though, I guess."

 

"Okay, we'll go get ready and stuff. See you when we see you."

 

"Alright good-"

 

"Bye (Y/n)!" Toby interjects, but then I hear Masky growling, "shut up" in the background, and they seemingly resume fighting. I chuckle lightly.

 

"Okay, see you."

 

"Yep, bye."

 

And he ends the call. Now all I have to do is wait.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Soooo I was going to put in some drunk CPs this chapter, but it's 1 AM and I'm already at 4,200 words, so I might as well put it in the next chapter. So that's something to look forward to haha. 
> 
>  
> 
> SO you get some drunk, crazy guy action next time. Beware or be square.


	37. Drunken Antics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: So I just want you guys to know that all of this relation to Buddhism and Tibetan healing techniques and stuff isn't me imposing ideas on you or anything, I'm actually learning all of this along with you guys. I've never done yoga, and I hadn't really gone in depth with studying Mahayana, Chan, or any other type of Buddhism past what I have in school until now. I just think it relates really well, and like I said in the text, this is a simple set of energy guidelines just as there is a simple set of moral guidelines in Christianity or in Islam or even in Hinduism than anyone can choose to follow in a religious, or in an everyday sense. Just wanted to make that clear that I'm not trying to degrade the religions or shove them on you or whatever. But anyways. Here are your drunk CP's. Hope you enjoy! :)

 

 

Warning: Heavy alcohol use (um obviously)

 

I catch my lip and roll the soft skin between my teeth in boredom as I set my phone down. Kicking my feet up on my bed, I cross my arms behind my head and stare at the ceiling. I try to focus on the cool air blowing around me from the subtle airflow coming from the poorly insulated cracks in the cellar wall outside my room, and imagine my energy inside of me as it roils around within my chest and body. As I shiver slightly, I try to dredge up some of the warm energy that I kept from my training earlier, and feel it easily surface to warm my skin as it merges with my neutral energy and gets it to transform and merge with it in a way so that it becomes the same as the warm energy, and it allows me to spread it around my body a bit further.

 

It's weird knowing that energy flows through every living thing around me, and that I was completely oblivious to it for a good portion of my life. Becoming this way opened up what feels like a completely new dimension to me- like an alternate universe where I'm not living the boring, normal life I was anymore, and now I'm running around in a world of superhumans with unnatural abilities and I'm surrounded by so many different supernatural things that would have been treated as nothing but fiction in my old life. It kind of makes me wonder if, somewhere along the way, I fell down a rabbit hole, or stumbled into a portal without my knowledge, because it's impossible to believe that this entire world was here this whole time right under all of our noses.

 

Huh. What a complete mind fu-

 

"So what did they say?" Mira prods as she nudges her way through my bedroom door and pads over to my bed with a cup of herbal tea. She silently hands the little white teacup to me and folds her hand in her lap, cocking her head to ask for an answer.

 

"O-oh they said they're coming- Masky, EJ, Hoodie, and Toby."

 

"That is wonderful! I shall start preparing the meal immediately... after I check your body for any wounds or inconsistencies." She holds her finger in the air in front of her as if it is to prevent getting her from too ahead of herself. I hum out a small laugh.

 

"That's fine, I should be healed up from anything that cut me by now anyways. I'm alright."

 

"Oh, pardon me, I did not mean flesh wounds, I meant any damages to the flow of energy within you. Sometimes if your body has been strained or worked a bit too hard, the flow between the seven Chakras, or spiritual centers within the body, develop blockages within it, and it can create discomfort, illness, lethargy, and overall sluggishness. Or at least that is the general idea of what I have been taught, about the spiritual centers I mean. Our training from today might have interrupted that type of flow, so I implore you, allow me to fix any interruptions."

 

I blink rapidly in confusion, then furrow my brows, confused on how she is going to do that. She smiles and simply tucks a rogue couple of hair stands behind her ear before moving towards my crossed legs a little more. "Are you alright with me doing it?"

 

I shrug as she looks back at me again. "I guess it couldn't  _hurt_." Her smile quirks up at the corner before she closes her glinting crystalline blue eyes and gently rests her fingertips over the tops of my feet. She then opens her eyes back up again for them to be shining golden as I feel a slight warmth against the tops of my feet that travels up my legs and all through my body on a set course. I relax at the sensation and watch her as she concentrates, then once she is done, she retracts the odd warmth and leaves behind a feeling of calmness. My mind feels clear and my body feels a bit lighter, and I find myself wanting to run around and go do something, but I restrain myself.

 

"It truly was a good idea to perform that, there was a considerably large blockage around the first chakra and a smaller around fourth. This means that for the first chakra, you might have been having trouble with feeling like you belong somewhere as well as having a feeling of a lack of security within your environment- so your home situation changing would be a cause for the second of the two. The fourth chakra may have something to do with loneliness or feeling a lack of compassion for or from some people in your life. It also may be that your relationships seem to be hurting you, whether past or present and it seems to be damaging you."

 

For some reason I feel a little unguarded and uncomfortable for a second that she could figure out so much about me by doing one simple thing, but then again now that the blockage of sorts is clear, if feel much more free to do what I want with less inhibitions holding me back. I go ahead and let it slide for now- there's no sense in telling her to put it all back and forget it now, now is there?

 

"Anyhow, I shall take my leave for now to begin preparing a meal for six. Hopefully I will have a sufficient amount of ingredients to make something equally enjoyable to all of you."

 

"They're boys and it's food. They'll eat it if it can fit in their mouth." I start laughing, which she soon accompanies me in before it comfortably dies and she pushes herself off of the bed.

 

"Without further ado, I will leave you to rest after a long day of training. Your body still needs time to recuperate even if your mind feels sound. Please allow yourself some rest."

 

I sigh, hating that she is right and feeling bad because she is getting all of the cooking done- even though I know that she wouldn't let me help her in any way regardless.

 

"Alright, I'll do that." I pout, relaxing back into the bed a bit more.

 

She nods and hums happily before leaving me to myself again.

 

**Time Skip**

 

"Party's here." I hear someone say from the other side of the door after a few soft knocks. I grin and make my way over to open the door, only to see all four guys smiling at me from outside.

 

"Come on in, Mira's just finished cooking," I say as I backtrack a little to get out of their way.

 

"Nice, we happened to bring a few gifts as thanks for the dinner." Jack grins as he steps through the door and removes his mask to put it on the top of his head, grinning as he swirls the liquid around in the bottles he holds. One is a brandy and the other is a sealed bottle of darker Rosé wine.

 

"Oh you didn't have to do that!" I laugh as he stops swirling them around.

 

"Well if you like this, there is more from where it came from." He gestures to Toby as he ducks into the doorway with his arms full of two more bottles of wine, a scotch, three beers, and two sealed bottles of rum. He laughs slightly and runs a hand through the back of his hair where his mask isn't. "We... didn't really know what you guys liked, so we brought a bit of everything."

 

"Well thanks, I was really starting to miss breaking into my late night stash." I laugh. I realize I haven't had alcohol for a while. And while I'm not dependent, or ever was dependent on it, sometimes it can take a nice edge off of things that you need every once in awhile to be able to treat yourself.

 

"Well you won't have to worry about that anymore. Tonight we're gonna make you feel like you'll never want to drink again." Masky snickers as he greets me after a wave to Mira who has just taken out the pie that I bought ingredients for yesterday.

 

"Oh  _lovely,_ " I roll my eyes and murmur sarcastically before laughing along with them.

 

"And even better, Toby's here to win against me in a drinking competition," Jack unenthusiastically informs me.

 

"You called?" Toby whips around to face us from across the room as he sets his face mask on the table in front of the couch where Mira told him he could set it. Both Jack, Masky and I groan as he comes bouncing over with Mira in tow.

 

"Nobody was talking to you, Toby," Jack grumbles.

 

"Well now you are, so it do-doesn't matter!" He sticks out his tongue across from me to meet Jack. Hoodie stifles a small laugh from behind Jack, and I realize that I hadn't noticed him there.

 

"Hey Hoodie, what's up? It's been a bit."

 

"Yeah, like forever and a day ago almost." He somberly laughs a little and runs a hand through his messy blond hair. My lips drag into a frown a little as I remember the young man Sage killed in front of me when I first got to the Liechtenstein safe house. His expression pulls into a frown to match mine as well just as the boys move forward to join in a conversation with Mira, allowing me to talk with Hoodie because I haven't gotten to him again yet. He looks at me with slight confusion, but tenses up a little I move forward and gently wrap my arms around his shoulders in a small hug.

 

"I missed you, ya know?" I sadly laugh a little as I start to pull out of the hug. He rubs his hands on my shoulders affectionately and grins.

 

"I missed you too. Are you alright?"

 

I grin and nod. "Yeah, I um, had a really rough day in Liechtenstein," I murmur. His eyes show that he automatically knows that there is more to it, but he doesn't pry, which I silently thank him for.

 

"Okay, so are we g-g-gonna eat or wha-at?!" Toby bursts through everyone's conversations as he drools over the pie and cooling baked dishes sitting on the counter on top of little circular heat pads. We laugh, then Mira and I move to start putting things on the table in front of the couch for everyone to sit around while the boys start opening the alcohol left and right.

 

Just as I settle myself down on the floor between Masky and Jack, Masky leans into my ear without anybody noticing. "We found something else in his office: an old photo album that was stuck in the back of one of his bookshelves. We also found bundles of notes passed between people that were tied together in stacks and sandwiched between the pages. I don't think we'll have time tonight to look at them much, but Jack and I could come up tomorrow to help you look, or to get away from Slender so we can actually talk to you over the phone or something. They were caked in dust and were hidden far enough away to be out of his range of eyesight. We left the stuff near the door."

 

I nod slightly and meet Jack's gaze in my peripheral as he listens intently to what we say as Toby drones on to Mira and Hoodie about Jane and Clockwork back at the house and how they "totally have the hots for him". I nod to Jack as well, then we all dig into our food along with the other three.

 

We slowly start to go through the alcohol. After about my fourth drink of the brandy I loosen up to where I want to be, but Toby keeps going to match Jack as they keep taking shot after shot of a little bit of everything to match the other. I decide to drink another glass of the Rosé this time to level out into a sweeter taste laying in my mouth, and just as I take the bottle, Toby tries to snatch up the scotch, and tips both of our bottles over, spilling it over me, Mira, Jack, Masky, and himself. He roars in laughter as I yell at him in slightly slurred sentences, feeling warm from the amount of alcohol in my stomach, yet disgusting with the feeling of it all over me.

 

"D'yoouuu know what thiss, me-e-eans?" Mira hiccups.

 

"Wha's it mean, Mir?" I slur.

 

"We mmneed to go 'n bathe in the hhhot s-sspring waterffu- fall." She limply points to the door.

 

"Bu' we don' have swimsssuits on." Masky interjects.

 

"Fffuck swimsuits." Jack slams his hands on the table. "I'm got fffuckin' underwear... I'mma strrrip. Be fuckin' ware of my sssexy ass b-body." He breaks off into giggles as he wrestles to get his shirt over his head. Toby snaps up, which he regrets as he stumbles and wobbles for a good few seconds, but he finds his balance enough to jerk his shirt off too and throw it on the floor.

 

"I d-dare you to fuckkkin' go n' jump in." He points an accusing finger at me for a second, then realizes that I'm not the correct Jack he is looking for and jabs his finger a couple of times before making it to Jack's true direction while he takes off his pants. Mira blushes twenty thousand shades of pink, but can't help but stare boldly at Jack's hips as he works his pants down his legs. I can't help but die laughing at the two until Masky joins in and starts taking his clothes off while Hoodie stays the soberest out of all of us and starts laughing with me, except with a bit more sanity.

 

I decide that I want to join in with the bathing party as I down two more drinks of a hidden whiskey that Hoodie had brought in and reserved for himself, then I throw a wink his way to tease him while Masky is distracted and make sure to nudge him as he throws his shirt away to get his attention. I then effortlessly get my sweatshirt over my head and shake my hair down my shoulders to show off my form-fitting black bra as I wedge my pants down my legs. Hoodie looks like he's blown a gasket as I kick the waist of my jeans off of my feet and finish the last of my glass of whiskey before pushing myself up as Masky lets his jaw hang wide open.

 

"Ccccome on ya fuckin' pussies lez go." I hold my finger up in triumph and teeter towards the door past Masky. Mira seems too shy to take her clothes off right there, but follows us regardless as Hoodie moves after us to keep us from falling. We finally make it to the edge of the hot spring waterfall, and I immediately move to stand under the falling hot water as it cleans the alcohol away from my stomach and along my neck from where it sloshed onto my skin. Masky joins me for a second and grasps the peak of my hips to pull my chest against him, which turns more into an awkward bump than anything, we meet in a sloppy, giggly kiss for a couple of seconds before Hoodie moves behind Masky and shoves hard, getting us to fall off of the ledge and into the pool of deeper water below. 

 

I surface with uncontrollable laughter as I sputter from water getting into my mouth. Once I calm down a little, I confusedly look around to try and find where Jack and Toby went while Hoodie laughs and moves back to the side of the waterfall where he left his sweatshirt hanging on a tree. Mira seems to be just as confused as I am as we swivel our heads around looking for them, but our ears detect them faster than our eyes do as we cringe at the voice of someone singing with as many voice cracks as seemingly possible.

 

"Ieeeiii'mmmm gonna swiiiing from the ffffuckin' tree branchhh cuz I don't give a fffuuuuuuuhuuuuck," Toby attempts to sing from on top of one of the upper shelves of the waterfall, where I see Jack and him playing chicken on surrounding tree branches- Toby especially.

 

"Toby do you  _want_  to fuckin' die?" Hoodie yells up at him as he lets go of the branch while swinging to grab onto another that groans under his weight.

 

"I'mmmm gonna live like that killjoy don't fuckinn exisst. Like he doesn't exiiiiihiiist. IIIIIII'mm gonna flyyyyy like a bird in the niiii-" I swear I can see his eyes bulge even from how far away I am from him and Jack as the tree branch creaks and snaps so he continues the word night with a high pitched "eiiiiiiiii" until he smacks into the upper branches of a tree below the one he was swinging on, and finishes off with a choked "ight" before catching his breath and laughing his ass off, spurring the rest of us into joining.

 

Hoodie scolds Toby for being so recklessly drunk as Jack just tries to hold back his little shitty grin, because from what I can assume, it was his idea for him to do it in the first place, but Toby is laughing too hard to care. We all thoroughly soak each other as we start up a drunken splash fight where 60 percent of the aimed splashes are so far off target we might as well have been aiming for the moon instead of a person. After a while though, we start to get incredibly tired, so we stumble back towards the shore and furthermore back to Mira's house, where we attempt to pat ourselves dry without poking our eyes out somehow, which Toby is repeatedly unsuccessful at. Then we all fall down on the floor or the couch in nothing but our underwear except for Hoodie, who put his sweatshirt back on somewhere on the way back.

 

As we lie on the floor, Mira shuffles around for a bit before making a triumphant noise and throwing herself forward into a sitting position. We all stare at her as she starts to collect herbs from her table and adds water into the pot in the fireplace before she somehow manages to start a fire without burning herself or her house down.

 

"What'cha doinnn'?" I ask from my slumped place on the floor next to Masky.

 

"I'vve got the best thing f-ffor hangovers the next muh-morning." She continues to hiccup as she, again, somehow still nimbly adds in the ingredients. We all watch her move from our unmoving positions until she is done, and fills six full cups to give to us all.

 

Toby downs his first before letting out a loud, faked retching noise. "What the  _fffuck_ did you put in this, Mmmmira?" He asks as he stares with disgust into his empty cup.

 

"I put all the rrright herbs and thhhen thought it would taste better if I added in some of the leftover food. It shhhhould still work hahahaha." She trails off in laughing, then she downs her own cup and holds a hand over her mouth before falling on the couch to lay near Hoodie. 

 

The rest of us shrug, daring each other on who will drink the awful smelling disgusting looking liquid first. I beat anyone to it and go balls to the wall, chucking it down into my throat as I plug my nose so I can't taste it that well, which... doesn't work too well.

 

I let my back slam on the floor, too disgusted by the mix of tastes that I can't laugh at the boys' expressions of awe. After a little bit of silence when we all get over the disgusting hangover cure, Hoodie decides to break the silence.

 

"Guyys, it's already 1 and there's nnnno fuckin' way we're gonna get back like this." He gestures to the lot of us excluding Mira and me.

 

"Whhhhy don't we find all the blankets in the houseee an' have a sleeeepover?" I ask, rolling to ask Mira.

 

"I dun careee... I'm tireddd," she whines as she sags over the side of the couch. I half-heartedly laugh in my sleepiness, but nonetheless go round up my blankets downstairs, plus some in my closet where there is a roll-up mattress and inflator attached to it as if someone knew drunk me would want it. I smuggle all of it upstairs with Jack and Masky at my heels, occasionally laughing for no reason.

 

We somehow get it all upstairs and laid out on the floor to join Mira's mattress as well, then get everything blown up to lay down on and each try to grab a blanket and pillow. Drunk, stupid idiots are starting to turn into cranky, sleepy idiots as we grapple for the last pillow, so I end up slamming myself down on one of the mattresses sprawled out on the floor with my blanket, waiting for someone to share their pillow with me. Masky finally caves as Hoodie moves to sleep behind me without a pillow as well, so he shoves his under all three of our heads to make us happy with me in the middle of both of them. Toby sprawls out at the very end with Mira between him and Hoodie, and Jack ends up the last one standing, so we all bully him into getting the light switches before laying down, which he pouts and grumbles at all the way until he is crawling back into bed next to Masky.

 

"G'nighttt." I slur through a yawn that spreads contagiously through the rest of them.

 

"Niiight."

 

"Sssweet dreamsss."

 

"Shut the fuckkk up I's sleepin'."

 

"No one likesss you, fffuckin' Tobyyy." I grumble, which the other guys tiredly snicker at before we all lie there with each other's company in silence. It's insanely comfortable, and as I snuggle into the warmth of both Hoodie and Masky, I can't help but feel like I'm in heaven as I drift off.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: I think I get secondhand drunk when I write about drunk people because fuck I feel like I'm gonna fall over and die laughing until I eventually fall asleep. You get to find out what the fuck is going on with Slender in the next chapter and see why he is so opposed to Samarin as a whole. It's gonna be a lot, so hopefully this fun chapter will be able to tone it down a little bit before I throw you back into more plot and stuff. Anyways, I really hope you liked this fun chapter, and will continue to read and support my story with commenting and liking it. :)


	38. Unmasked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got lazy. Please read my author's notes. :)

**A/n: PLEASE READ** : Okay, so this chapter is another one with a lot to take in just to warn you. You guys already know how unconventional this is for a Creepypasta fanfiction, and this will take it just a little further into uncharted territory. Big,  _BIG,_ reveals this chapter. Hope you like the story, and continue to like it- please remember to comment what you think

* * *

 

My eyes snap open and out of a deep sleep for no reason, which causes me to stare straight up at the ceiling with blurry vision in bewilderment. My mind takes in everything around me as I confusedly wipe the sand out of my eyes and look around.

 

Nobody is awake or moving and I can't hear anything out of place, so I calm down a little and scold myself for freaking out over nothing as I snuggle back into the pillow behind my head. As my breathing starts to slow again, I start to notice other things. Someone's face is sandwiched between my neck and shoulder, there is someone laying over my stomach as I continue to lay on my back, someone else to my right is snoring very loudly, and another person to my right is murmuring little blurbs of things in their sleep and occasionally laughing.

 

I laugh a little as- I think- Mira slurs something along the lines of, "Gimme your frickinnnn' good food. I wann it," but my laughter is cut off as the blanket that was haphazardly tossed over me last night suddenly exposes half of my body to the cool air.

 

My hand snaps down and grabs it before it sneaks away from me anymore, and it pulls taught in front of me as I shiver. Whoever is tugging it I valiantly fight against for a good thirty seconds before they stop pulling. I grin in triumph and pull the last edge back over my body, finally warm again, but just as soon as I do, they violently jerk the blanket and pull me with it.

 

My body does a complete 180 on the mattress and whoever the poor person was that somehow ended up across my stomach gets flipped with me and ends up smooshed beneath my chest from the momentum.

 

I have a mini heart attack when I look down between my thoroughly crushed boobs to see what poor soul got trapped under them and realize that it's fucking Masky. Somehow he hasn't woken up yet, but that doesn't mean I'm not furiously embarrassed.

 

I try to scramble away from him, but the blanket somehow ended up wrapping around my back and under my body, and I struggle with it. And just as soon as I get myself rolled off of him, whoever that fucker is on my left jerks the blanket their way again and smacks me right back into Masky's face yet again.

 

And somehow he  _still_  doesn't wake up.

 

I growl in frustration as the blanket is fully jerked away from me and immediately snap up from the mattress to see who it is that has been battling over the blanket with me.

 

And that little bastard EJ is there, wrapped up in the whole frickin' blanket at the far end of the mattress with this satisfied little smile on his face. He  _literally_ has cocooned himself in the damned thing. I snarl at his expression, but the sound turns out wobbly due to a particularly violent shiver that racks through my body.

 

Stomping over the other bodies on the mattress, I loom over him as he stays all snuggled up in that stupid thing with that idiotic expression. I maliciously grin as I bend down and grab the edge of the blanket lying just overtop of the massive, white, crocheted heap that is EJ and yank it straight up.

 

The motion sends him rolling at a surprisingly fast pace off of the mattress and causes him to finally stop rolling about five feet away from the end of it with a dizzy and shocked expression.

 

His eyes meet mine after a second as he searches for the reason why  _he_ was so rudely awakened and he quirks his brow in angered confusion at my very annoyed, but mostly amused expression.

 

"You  _stole_  the whole blanket from me, you asshole."

 

He scoffs and shoulders himself back up into a sitting position. "Well it's not  _my_  fault that you weren't holding on tight enough." He grumbles and pouts, then tries to reach for the blanket again, but I pull it just out of reach from him. He tries again with the same result and tries again, but I just keep dancing out of his reach until I have the whole blanket bundled up in my arms and I'm dodging him as he chases me around the two mattresses in the middle of the floor.

 

Only when he finally gives up and he's huffing for breath do I realize that we were probably being a bit too loud. He realizes it in the same moment, and we look down at the people on the bedding in front of us only to see them still soundly sleeping. We snicker under our breaths at ourselves, then move a little ways away from them so we don't further disturb them.

 

"Well, I guess there's no point in trying to go back to sleep now," I sigh. I pad over to the mattress and fish out my phone from between the two conjoined blocks of fabric to check the time. My eyes widen in surprise as I see that it's only seven AM, and mumble, "Wow, I feel  _way_  too awake for it to be this early and way too good for having been so drunk the night before," in surprise.

 

Jack yawns from behind me. "We have better metabolism than humans so the alcohol is broken down a lot faster and because it is broken down faster, it doesn't have as much of a chance to dehydrate us and give us a hangover. And I always wake up around this time so it is normal for me, but you could have messed up your Circadian Rhythm by falling asleep and waking up at weird times recently. That would explain why you feel more energetic right now."

 

"I messed up my cicada-eat what?"

 

"It is what makes you- ...oh, nevermind. You wouldn't understand anyway." He flippantly teases as a mischievous grin works its way over his lips. I just roll my eyes and playfully shove his shoulder, which causes him to stumble to the side a bit as he snorts out hushed laughter.

 

I stretch my arms over my head and make my way back to Mira's kitchen with Jack in tow after he has recovered. "So, do you think she has any ground coffee lying around here that we can brew without that big ass pot?"

 

"No. Odds are she probably does not even know what a coffee pot is," he laughs.

 

"Well... shit." I huff.

 

"Hold on, I think I saw just the thing the other day when I was helping Masky cook." He holds up his finger and opens one of the cupboards near the sink. After moving around a few items, he pulls out a small box with a victorious expression as he holds it out to me. "This should do it." He chirps.

 

I hesitantly reach forward and take it from him and watch in confusion as he goes down into the cellar and tells me to stay put. While he's gone, I realize that he has just gotten this excited over a box of hot chocolate mix and snort. He comes back in no time with a jug of milk from the icebox in the cellar and pours a good amount into a pot to place it on the stove. I stay silent and bemusedly watch as he makes us two cups of hot chocolate with the happiest look on his face. Once he hands me my cup, he realizes this and immediately tries to hide his childishness and embarrassment by hiding behind his steaming cup of hot chocolate and changing the subject.

 

"Um, well I guess we might as well start on this crap..." He murmurs as he gently kicks the box of stuff the guys brought with them for me to look at. On the top is the scrapbook and the lump of loosely tied scraps of paper with scribbles of writing on them, and they wobble dangerously with the tiny kick he dealt to the box. I nod and pull the box away from the wall to sit down next to it, placing my coffee in the small space between my legs as I cross them under me. The cup is warm against my thighs, but I still feel goosebumps rippling across my skin like a still pond getting rained on. I pick up the photo album anyways, regardless of being cold.

 

Suddenly there's something being placed over my shoulders, and I look behind me to see Jack draping the blanket over me while watching me work. I give him a kind smile as he meets my gaze and sits next to me, then shrug off a part of the blanket to throw it over his shoulder as well, not even bothering to hand it to him because I know he would tell me that he is fine and doesn't need it- but I know he's cold due to his light, suppressed shivers that come and go occasionally.

 

"Alright, you take the box and I'll take the scrapbook?"

 

"Sounds like a plan." He nods and moves to pull the flaps of the cardboard away from each other as I allow a little bit of my night vision to fade in so I can see everything a whole lot clearer than I would normally in this dim light.

 

I watch him out of the corner of my eye as I open to the front page of the book and read who it belongs to, which happens to be Amy Lazurus, as her name is written in beautiful cursive on the first blank page. As I turn to the second, I quirk my lips into a grin as I read the line where it says, 'If lost, please return to...' where she has scrawled next to it in print, 'any of those Silveira dipshits: Matthew, Ryan, David, or Alec. Or me!'

 

Below that, someone, presumably one of the Silveira "dipshits", wrote in slightly messy and boyish handwriting, 'Hey, we're 'honorable' dipshits! There's a difference.'

 

I take a break as I'm flipping to the first picture page to look at what Jack has found. SO far he has laid out an old graduation cap caked with dust, a couple of university flags with their colors of gold, orange, and black have faded with time and have holes from moths who managed to wiggle into the box. There is also a football that seems to have been signed by the whole team of players and seems very rugged and well used, and also a few medals for getting first in Public Forum debate and a couple of other types join it on the floor on top of a jacket with fraternity symbols on the back. All of this seems to be from a college grad, and I assume I'll only see more of the same type of thing in it, so I return to start sifting through the pictures.

 

In the first couple of pages, there are only some colored pictures of the university campus matching the one on the flags, and they seem geared more towards artistic photography than for putting them in a scrapbook. Then taking up the whole third page is a large picture of a group of people in front of what looks to be one of the larger facilities- possibly a main social and guidance center- and the caption below it reads, "Finally found home (and a few friends along the way)."

 

On the next page is a picture labeled, "First day at the UNI with the best boys in the fucking world!", with a young woman posing along with four guys around her while they stand in front of the same building as in the group picture before. All of them make funny faces, and I can only assume who all of the boys are after putting a face to Amy Lazurus' name, but as I turn the next page it explains it for me. Amy put in headshots of all of the boys and one for herself in the middle and scribbled a few personality traits for each. I skim over them but don't take them in as I keep turning pages. The next few pages are from rallying events and activities, and in one of them, two of the guys have painted themselves up with black body paint and have hoisted Amy onto their shoulders, holding one of her thighs each to keep her stable as they cheer at something beyond the picture within a large crowd of people. Others are types of selfies with one of the boys behind her. On the first page she titles it, "David, the Sourpuss" and pouts into the camera as he glares at her from behind her, then in the next photo under it he sighs, and then the last photo on the page is him smiling with amusement at her as he holds up a peace sign which she laughs at. The other ones differ due to personalities, but they reap almost the same end result- with them smiling happily at Amy or into the camera.

 

In the next few pages, the group seems to finish up their Freshman year and finishes with a group photo labeled, "One down, hopefully only three more to go!"

 

I turn the page fully expecting a hilarious picture or caption, but a group of loose photos only slide into my lap in a small pile. I furrow my brows as I go through them, getting confused as I watch Amy become less and less active and with every picture she is in, she seems to grow unhappier until I find the first photo of her frowning as she looks into the camera while someone takes a picture of her looking through the very scrapbook I'm holding.

 

I gently place the small stack of photos back into their place and close the book with a very disheartened and slightly worried state of mind. It was like I was watching this girl's life go by and go downhill like watching a very slow and jumpy animation.

 

I shake my head and put the book off to the side, trying to clear my thoughts of Amy Lazurus' life from my mind. It doesn't have anything to do with Slender, so it shouldn't matter right now. And who knows who she is- she might be a CP that moved and accidentally left her old memories so he kept them or something. But I'm shooting into the dark here.

 

"Oh... have you found anything?" I ask Jack, realizing that I've been so distracted and immersed in what Amy wrote and photographed that I haven't been paying attention to him at all.

 

"Yeah, here, look at this." He moves to show me a small leather book in his hands that seems to be a diary. On the very front cover, Amy's name is embedded into the material with gold letters. I flip through it, skimming faster this time now that Jack is sitting next to me.

 

The first entry is her explaining that she bought the book because her mom told her that the loom of the mind can last a long time but the words it can spin onto a page will stay woven together for much longer than the mind will live. So she was going to write it all down for preservation's sake. She then explained that she met her new best guy friends on a college tour and that they were ' _actual_  quadruplets', then explained how they were really cool and sweet and they had kept in contact since.

 

I skip a few pages of randomly placed events all spaced out and see that it's the same as the scrapbook, recounting rallies and study sessions and activities with the four brothers and staying incredibly positive yet darkly humorous in some places. As the new year begins though, her entries become more frequent and longer and start to become a lot less positive. She admits that the brothers have left her behind to be part of the more popular crowds except for Ryan who stops by occasionally to make her laugh and David who helps her study for tests rarely. Right after that entry, she then leaves the rest of that page blank until I turn two pages away, and then she uses a whole page to write 'Why?' before starting a very long entry on the next page that is dated two months after the last one.

 

I look up to see Jack staring at me and moving his hand for me to continue and read the next entry. I silently read it and automatically I can tell that the wrinkles in the paper below my thumb aren't just from age, but from fallen tears as well.

 

'I have a secret,' she writes. 'Mom told me to never tell anyone, never to use my abilities to manipulate others, to always use my abilities sparingly and for good, and most of all, to control myself because my ability is undoubtedly one of the strongest a Samarin can possibly have. If word were to get out about me, people would hurt me, they would use my ability for militaristic advantage with little regard for what I think, and they would never understand. And I've known this my whole life- these rules were the only things she asked me never to break. And I broke them all. And I'm going to pay for it.

 

David saw. Some idiot that was constantly making fun of me got me to break and I used it on him. I got into his mind, told him to turn around, to walk away, and to never speak to me again unless it was absolutely necessary. After that, I told him to forget everything I just said, and he simply did like they always do. And I have been doing things like that for a while now. But he saw. And get this, he came up to me, cornered me, and told me what he saw, then told me he was one too- a Samarin. He said he was a mind controller too, but he wasn't very powerful, so he said that he believed I could help him and his brothers- who had been hiding in plain sight as Samarin this whole fucking time. So I broke. I confessed completely to him and he let me go. I just couldn't manipulate his mind. I didn't want to hurt my friend and I didn't want to lose him. So I went back to my dorm, and Ryan was there to cheer me up as always, and of course, I was a mess. I broke down and told him too because he would find out anyway... and he told me to run. To run and keep running until I was sure I could never be found by David or his other brothers. He said that he didn't want to be what he was anymore, he wanted to be himself, he wanted to love me, and he wanted to protect me, but he was bound by his brother's mind manipulation and blood ties and ability ties, and he could never leave. So because of his powerlessness, he warned me instead. And now I'm hiding in this room, biding my time, cursing myself for going back to say bye to my mother before I went completely off the grid. And it was pointless. She is...' there are so many tear stains in the area that I can't even read the pen ink anymore, so I skip down a line. 'David's mind manipulation was not weak as he had said. With his ability, he could take the abilities of others. He could take them and use them all for himself and give portions to whoever he wanted as well. But he had to kill the original host to take it. And now he has my mother's ability. He could come to me in any form, in any shape, in any way. He could be himself or he could pretend he was Ryan. And he would do it. He would use my mother's ability to control the shadows and to change his entire body makeup to come to me as my worst nightmare because all I am to him now is a pawn to scare into submission before I die.

 

Ryan told me one more thing before I left. He knew David would never stop until he was the most powerful being in the world and all of his rivals were dead. And to do that, he would kill for power and enslave the other race, the Creepypastas, into being his army of pawns so he could use them... to kill every last Samarin... and to leave all the weaker Creepypastas in line for him to slaughter when they had killed everyone else. The Samarin lineage would be broken, and every remotely powerful being in this existence would be dead save for his brothers and him. And that can't happen.

 

I'm sorry mom. I have to break these rules one last time. I am the only one who can stop this. So I'm sorry. Ryan, I loved you dearly, even though I never said it. Matthew, Alec, and even David- I loved you all too. I wish things were different. Part of me wishes you never found out, but most of me knows in the core of my being, that if you had not found me out, you would have continued the slaughter.

 

So I will gladly sacrifice myself to stop you.

 

Only I can reverse this mind manipulation as the loom of my mind weaves diamond that will not break long after I am gone. Unbreakable within the words I write and the words that will be etched into their minds- the Samarin. Their pain will be my pain. I will be to blame for their suffering. I, Amy Lazarus, will never ask for forgiveness because what I am about to do is unforgivable.

 

This is the command: Hate the Creepypastas. Destroy their leaders. Drive them into submission and make sure they never make their army, or it will surely be the end for you all. Destroy them. I'm sorry Ryan. I love you. I don't want to hurt you. Destroy them. Pure love. No, pure destruction. But I love you. I HATE YOU. You killed her. But you loved me. YOU love ME. I love you.

 

I'm sorry. Is that you? I can hear you knocking on my door. Mom? No, Ryan, I have to go, you're here to kill me. I mean David is. Take my ability, you will have killed me for nothing. Pure hatred. Pure love. I loved you. And you destroyed me. Now watch me destroy you.'

 

Someone taps me on the shoulder, violently rousing me from the trance state of mind that Amy's last words put me into as I hung onto every one of them, reading as if I was hearing their echo within my mind. I could see the 'loom of her mind' breaking almost before my eyes. I flail backward for a second, thinking someone is actually there to hurt me, to take  _my own_  ability, but as the warm hot cocoa between my legs splatters over my legs and burns me, I wake out of my trance completely with a loud yell.

 

Whoever it is that tapped me jumps back in shock as my hands violently shake, looking for something to do about the horrible pain in my leg. It couldn't have been that short of a time since I started reading that, right? It feels like I started reading an hour ago. A lifetime ago. And more.

 

"Are you alright? Jesus- Mira! Can you heal her?" I immediately recognize Masky's voice and Jack's worried murmurings behind his voice that I can't quite hear.

 

After a few seconds of panic, the calming, reassuring voices of everyone brings me back into the real world and the pain from the hot drink is completely gone.

 

"What happened?" Masky worriedly asks Jack as he wraps his arms around my shoulders to make sure I know that he is there and that this is the real world on instinct.

 

Jack grits his teeth and clenches his fist.

 

"I think we just found the perfect evidence to pin on Slenderman."

 

* * *

MOVED PREVIOUS A/N TO NEXT CHAPTER because I was a sleepy idiot when I wrote it and I spoiled some shit. Ooooops.

 

 **ALSO:** If you **want a breather,** I posted an  **Eyeless Jack x Reader lemon** on my profile that you mind like and that's pretty long, so here's the link **:[Heat (Eyeless Jack x Reader lemon)](https://www.quotev.com/story/10154635/Heat-Eyeless-Jack-x-Reader-lemon)**


	39. Axiom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: So I think in my excitement and sleep deprivation I kiiiind of spoiled it for some of you guys, but I explain it a little more in this chapter and I moved that A/n to the bottom of this one. Whoops! ALSO before I edited, I had tenderman in there too, but I took him out because I really didn't see a minor character like that fitting into my future plans, if any of you caught the change. But anyways, I hope you enjoy! :P

 

 

 

"What the hell does that mean?" Masky furrows his brows and asks in confusion as I pitifully dab at the large chocolaty stain blanketed over my legs. Jack takes the diary from the floor in front of me and skims over it again for a few seconds, then gives it to Masky for him to read. After a couple of minutes he finishes, but he still looks slightly skeptical and confused from what I can see out of the corner of my eye. "So... what does this have to do with Slender?" He murmurs in question.

 

I move away from him; wrapping my blanket tighter over my shoulders to get my shivering to lighten up but inevitably realizing that the shivering isn't coming from the cold air anymore. I pick up my cup and set it in the sink as Jack motions for Hoodie and Mira to make their way over to the two of them since they have woken up from my yell, then I join them again on the floor with a large dish towel to soak up the last of the hot cocoa. Mira, Hoodie, and Masky stare at EJ and I with an expression of dread and confusion as we prepare to explain to them what we have found with such serious attitudes.

 

"This box is full of college memorabilia, and the album we found buried behind all the books in Slenderman's bookshelf directly connected to it. The same woman who made this photo album and took these pictures wrote in this diary that we found in the box." He pauses to point to the open photo album in front of his legs, then to the diary in Masky's hand, then continues. "This girl, Amy Lazurus, met four quadruplet brothers on a college visit, and they became friends- managing to stay in touch and go to the same college together. In her Sophomore year, they all drifted apart, and in the very last entry, she confessed that she was a Samarin- a Samarin with incredible mind altering abilities. She then said that the head of the brother's found out about it, and explained that the four brothers were Samarin as well. She confided in one of the other brothers, who explained to her that the main brother, David, the one who found her out, had the ability to steal the abilities of other Samarin at the expense of the life of the host. She wrote here," he points to the last bit of the final entry, "that she gives a specific command to  _all_   _Samarin_ , to hate us, the Creepypastas, because the leader of the brothers was planning a war to use us to kill all of the Samarin, just so he and his brothers could be the most powerful beings in the world-"

 

"That doesn't make any fucking sense- Mira's here and she doesn't hate us, right Mira?" Masky scoffs. Mira looks slightly shocked for being put on the spot so suddenly, but she hurriedly shakes her head at Masky's question. "There, see, you guys are overre-"

 

"Masky, shut up and let them explain. It seems like it's a lot to take in, so if you quit putting it aside and being a dick, you will be able to deal with it a whole lot easier," Hoodie suddenly speaks up and scolds Masky. I swear I would clap for him if there wasn't such a serious atmosphere right now. Masky looks conflicted, but resigns himself with lines of suppressed worry making his expression twitch.

 

"Anyway," Jack huffs, "Amy gives a command to the Samarin, towards all Samarin, to hate the Creepypastas so they could not become the massive army that the brothers would make out of them to kill their entire race. However I believe that this massive amount of energy she used took a horrible toll upon her, and her conflicted feelings for hating and loving the brothers who were once her best friends accidentally made their way into the command that she copied down in the notebook so they were more concrete. Her mind was breaking from the strain, and she found herself torn between completely loving or hating them as she says. She wanted to be in between but the ability supposedly would not let her choose both sides and it ricocheted off to the minds of every true Samarin- some became purely loving, and some purely hateful."

 

Mira almost dazedly curls up into a ball in the outer edge of the circle, holding her knees tightly to her chest in shock, anger, and confusion. Hoodie places a hand on her back to comfort her, but she seems too lost within her thoughts to really notice. I don't blame her. She is probably thinking that this information is hitting too close to home and becoming more and more uncomfortable to hear. One person through one little technicality made her this way, and it probably makes her feel pretty powerless.

 

"So then, I'm asking you again, how the fuck does this actually relate to Slenderman?" Masky growls, undoubtedly scared of the answer we might give him and is choosing to lash out.

 

Jack sighs, looking at me for a second in dire resignation, then he turns to face Masky again and opens his mouth to answer. "Due to the personality traits displayed by these four young men and the context of which they have been portrayed through this memorabilia and the odd locations of which they were found, I truly believe that these Samarin brothers... happen to be the same brothers at the head of the CP safe houses all over the world. Ryan, seemingly the more lighthearted of the four, has the likeness of Splendorman, Alec shares traits with Trenderman, Matthew, the more flirty and crass of the bunch seems similar to Offenderman, and the last brother, David, who is the more serious and responsible one of the four, has many of the same traits as Slenderman."

 

"That's idiotic. Samarin can be thrown out of the barrier. Samarin can't stay inside the houses for very long. Samarin only have one ability and the brothers have many. There is just no way-"

 

"Slenderman was the sole being who set up those defenses, and as it states in this diary, the lead brother, David, had the ability to steal the abilities of other Samarin and give them to other people as well as use the powers for himself, so that would explain the brothers' similar abilities. It makes sense. All of it fits. None of us know exactly how old they are, much less where they came from, and nobody has known them for more than twenty years at most. They are way too powerful to be Creepypastas, they always have been, and you have to know this already, so just quit denying it Masky."

 

"Okay then, so if all of this is true, if the only reason they have ever taken any of us in was to make an army of murderers to kill the Samarin for them, then why has Slender made so many sacrifices for us, given us homes and safety, made living as someone who is required to kill at least every three months to survive as easy as possible by doing all he has been able to in order to help us? Why would he let  _her_  go?" Masky jabs a finger in the air at me, and I find myself just as uncomfortable on the spot as Mira was a few minutes ago. "Slender has had plenty of times to kill her and steal the entire ability that would render every Samarin as useless and to take their abilities without killing them, so why isn't she dead?"

 

I take in a sharp breath. He's absolutely right. Why would Slender even think about letting me live? Why would he bother to pack my things for me as I was being removed from the house or  _especially_  even bother to come and personally apologize to me in the middle of the night? He risked his life just to do that. I close my eyes and think back to the conversation he had with me, letting key things play back through my mind. I remember him saying things such as, "you proved that you only wanted to protect them as I do," and, "I, most of all, should understand that not every Samarin is evil or out to attack the Creepypastas," and, "its protection is an innate responsibility we have developed now," and the last phrases that drift through my mind tie up all the loose ends and erase any doubt I may have had: "It is odd how goals can change in a lifetime. It is hard to believe there was a time where I would not even bother in thinking about explaining myself to you, having cast you aside as a mere pawn in a greater game with no pure intentions in sight- only to serve in aiding the King in its check."

 

My eyes fly open as someone nudges my side, and instead of turning to look at them, I reach for the stack of small notes. These are the only things we haven't looked through yet, and I find myself looking for the answer to the question he gave me when we had that conversation: what makes a narcissistic and egotistical power-hungry maniac turn into someone who makes sacrifices again and again for people and enables them to care and cherish them? I have an idea, but I hope this will allow me to be sure.

 

I tear the ribbon away and let it fall to my lap, then sift through the small pieces of torn notebook and plain paper that the brothers and Amy seem to have written notes to each other on like sending crude letters. Every few scraps, there is one pristine sheet of paper cut into a perfect square and the writing on it is the same as the one in the front of Amy's scrapbook. I can automatically tell that it is David's handwriting by the way it loops and stays completely straight on the unlined paper, staying in complete letter format as opposed to a simple scrawled note. All of them have matching envelopes with them that seem handmade to fit the length and width of every note, and towards the very bottom of the stack, I find a final unopened letter sandwiched between the other faded scraps of paper at the bottom. I snatch it from the stack and don't even think twice about wedging the fold of paper out from the inside before sliding the note out.

 

'Dearest Amy,' the note begins, 'I fear it is too late to apologize for what atrocities I have committed. In an unbridled lust for power and revenge, I have destroyed those I have loved dearly, and for that I will forever be the monster you have rightfully dubbed me as. My actions are inexcusable, and despite my desperate need to hear the ever bright and ever consolatory laughter that once used to fill my entire being with complacency once again, you are forever gone now. It is odd, seeing just how much of you filled up our daily lives and our thoughts, and without you every aspect of this life seems horribly wrong. I have read your final thoughts, the ones that you threw at me in a pitiful attempt to slow my advance upon you, and had I stopped, had I read them before...' he scribbles out the last few words in a mass of black ink, then starts a new sentence, which is wobbly and considerably less elegant compared to how it was before. 'I cannot imagine the life which I aspired to obtain since the day I received my abilities now. My mind was set that I could not be truly happy until my family was physically impossible to defeat, to abuse, ever again. And the answer I knew, the one I aspired for, shrouded the simplicity and amiable choice that I should have made in staying ever connected with the enigma that was you, my dearest Amy. Your sacrifice at the expense of my misguided and egregious ways will not be forgotten, and will be further carried out by me, as I see it fitting that the suffering I have caused you should be laid tenfold upon myself. With my previous goals reduced to mere fantasy in this predicament of which you have put us in, I am forced to find new ones, and I thought it was only fitting as well for you to know. Amy Lazarus, you are the one who sacrificed everything to save the many, not the few, and you will be the crux of which my life will be centered upon from this moment on as you lay in your grave. It will always be my penance that I live to fulfill your final wish- to protect the ones I originally would have destroyed. My brothers and I set out tomorrow to reach designated locations where we had originally set up military bases for our planned army in order to make them solely into places of refuge now. The hatred of the Samarin has pushed them to where they are murdering any Creepypasta they find, and so we believe it is our duty to protect them- for you. I cannot see that I will ever truly fulfill your wish, however my brothers and I shall try. As penance for the great atrocity, I will devote my life to what you once were, and what you once stood for. With much love and sorrowful regret, David Silveira.'

 

After all of that, and all I can think is that she must have been one hell of a woman- despite the mistakes she made. It fits the mold of why he is this way now, and her death quite possibly could have been why he didn't choose to kill me that night. To instead apologize to me and leave me be, and to even level with me- despite me being a Samarin.

 

"What is that?" Masky asks.

 

"His apology," I murmur. "His reason and his apology."

 

"Reason for what?"

 

"His reason for devoting himself to protecting you all- deep remorse."

 

Jack reads the note next to me and nods his head in agreement. He then hands it to Masky and allows him to read through it before giving it to Hoodie. I worry my lip in stress. Even if he is doing this for her, he's still committed horrible crimes and has been lying to all of the Creepypastas as well.

 

"We need to tell everyone about this bastard."

 

"Masky, you know we can't. Not right now anyways. If everyone found out that the brothers have created this elaborate lie and then they are told that their original goal was to make an army of you guys to murder the Samarin, then there would be mutiny. They might be killed and the house would be unprotected against the Samarin, and you  _know_ we can't have that with Samarin such as Sage and my sister roaming around."

 

"So what can we do?" Hoodie pitches in, scooting closer as Mira gets up and tasks herself with rearranging things on her herb table absentmindedly, the strain probably too much for her to bear right now. 

 

"First we would need to confront him. Make sure he knows that we know the truth and that we can threaten him with it if you want to come back. How much of a hold do you have on your abilities now?"

 

"I-"

 

"After one more training session she should easily be able to control the effects of her ability so they do not affect all who are around her." Mira pipes up as she stops flitting her hands along the table.

 

"Good, so then what can we do now that we know? We can't just go waltzing back in there- Slender would be informed immediately and he might panic."

 

"So then how can we talk to him if we can't get near the house yet? He would be suspicious if we were to walk up to the cameras and just call him out to talk."

 

"What are you guys talkin' a-about?" All four of us move our heads to catch Toby in our gaze as he sleepily rubs his eyes. After a few seconds of silence, he furrows his brows with an oddly perturbed look at our silent staring. "W-what did I do," he murmurs in nervous question.

 

I turn back to them. "We could send him back and tell him to ask Slenderman to come see me. He might think I have some information or something. I could then confront him and make sure he knows, but I don't want to really threaten him, I want you guys to be kept safe still, but I need to let him know that I can level with him and that he knows he can drop the high and mighty act. If we make an alliance and then I tell him that you all know and inform him of the situation so he doesn't end up panicking... then that would give me ample time to finish all of my other goals before coming back and solving this one. I could get my revenge on the people who murdered my family, and then, ideally, I will be able to return Sage, Mira, my sister, and all other Samarin that I encounter back to themselves. This will allow the Creepypastas to be able to move freely without being controlled by the brothers in an attempt to protect them, and will inevitably produce the best possible outcome in my mind."

 

"I think that sounds like the best course of action we can take. I agree." Jack nods in affirmation, readily taking my side.

 

Masky sighs, knowing that his anger will get him nowhere right now, and the prospect of having a set plan eases his mind a little bit. "I agree with Jack, that's much better than anything I was coming up with, and I'm sure Hoodie agrees."

 

Hoodie readily nods at Masky's statement.

 

"Guys, what the f-fuck are you talking about?" Toby pouts and repeats, hating the fact that he has been left out of the conversation.

 

We all turn back to look at him again, and he looks like he regrets speaking for being put on the spot once more.

 

"Your sacrifice," Hoodie shrugs and pokes fun at poor Toby in an attempt to lighten the mood, who's eyes look like they might pop out of his head as we all play along and grin. I can only hope my plan will go through smoothly as worry plagues my mind. I'll just have to wait and hope.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Here's that A/n that was in last chapter so I don't spoil shit for others who didn't see it.)
> 
> A/n: So just a recap. Slender and his brothers have been deceiving everyone this whole time. David=Slenderman, Ryan=Splendorman, Alec=Trenderman, and Matthew=Offenderman. And they're all sons of bitches except for poor Ryan. But anyways, I'm so goddamn tired. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I worked really hard on it and the plot, so I hope you look forward to what comes next. Thank you guys! :)


	40. Misery

A/n: Nice long chapter for today. I hope you enjoy. :)

 

 

"S-sacrifice? I didn't do anything... why... I swear I-I'll leave you alone for a whole day if you re-reconsider." Toby stutters half because of his impediment and half because of nervousness. He yelps as my grin continues to grow in the dim light which makes it look almost maniacal as I let my blanket drop from my shoulders when I stand up and start advancing towards him. He stumbles back and hurriedly hides behind the couch for cover, and only when I think he might actually lash out and fight back do I finally break character to stop and start softly laughing.

 

The rest of the group follows suit, which causes Toby to stand completely shocked, now holding a stick in front of him from the kindling pile near the fireplace that looks like a pretty pitiful weapon.

 

"Toby, we're just kidding. We just need to you go get Slender for us- we have to stay here for a little while longer, and we need him to come talk with (Y/n) about something," Hoodie explains.

 

He stays still for a second, then drops the stick to the floor and crosses his arms with an embarrassed pout. "You guys are a-assholes. Do it yourselves."

 

"They have to stay here with me, and you have to go back anyway for right now, so please? Pretty please?" I clasp my hands together and stick my bottom lip out jokingly.

 

He furrows his brows at me but inevitably sighs and lets his arms drop. "Fine. But you owe me co-offee and waffles before I leave or I'm not bu-udging."

 

Mira hums in slight laughter, then responds with, "I will prepare the coffee for you in the meantime- I believe I have some mix leftover from when you welcomed me to this house."

 

He concernedly steps back from her with complete seriousness washing over his features. "You... haven't used i-it yet? And much less, shouldn't tha-at have gone bad by now?"

 

"Sweetheart, I haven't a pan in this house I can properly cook such things in. And that mix is a powder, and things such as that do not necessarily expire."

 

Toby suddenly sinks to the floor after Mira finishes her sentence with an incredibly distraught expression and surprises Mira into backing up a few steps. "S-s-so my emergency Kool-Aid packets were thrown out for no reason? Damn you, Jeff! You lying pri-ick!" We burst out laughing as he waggles his fist in the air and curses at the ceiling about Jeff.

 

After Toby calms down we set out to find the mix and get him to settle for pancakes. I end up with griddle duty while Toby sits like a king on a throne as he crosses his legs and arms in a stool on the wall adjacent to me. Jack, Hoodie, and Masky try to restrain themselves as they gradually make the batter for me along a chain of labor, trying to keep from swathing large gobs of mix from the edges and sticking them somewhere on the others' faces or arms, however they seem to have given into temptation a couple of times already. Mira waits patiently beside me to take stacked plates and replace them with clean ones before walking the pancakes over to Toby.

 

We let him eat before us simply because while he is gone we will need to have something to do before Slenderman arrives, and keeping our spirits high will be paramount so we don't get weighted down and lose composure where it counts. Although I don't think I would have too much of a problem anyway, I still would pick being happy over stressing out over every last detail and burying my mind in depressed and serious thoughts any day and any time where I would be able.

 

"Alright, alright, I think I've had enough to last me until lunch." Toby sighs out, his contentedness evident in his features as he leans back for a second, then allows himself to jump back up.

 

"Are you quite sure you do not want to stuff about ten more in? I have seen you eat an entire buffet line left unsupervised." Jack warily eyes Toby as he goes back to practically bouncing off of the walls again.

 

"Nah, I'm not full, I just need to save as much room as I can physically make for Slender's lunch plans today. He's making spaghetti and meatballs and GARLIC BREAD. You can't live without garlic bread. It's a key part of the food triangle or whatever."

 

"I can _assure_ you-" Both Jack and Mira abruptly stop talking as they realize they were talking in sync, and Mira blushes so hard I feel like she may need to see a hospital. Jack grins a bit embarrassedly but continues. "I can assure you, Toby, that the food pyramid does not have a designated section dedicated to garlic bread."

 

"Well, it's no food triangle I follow, then."

 

" _Clearly,_ " Masky snickers a couple of feet away from me, covering his mouth but barely trying in drowning out his laughter.

 

Jack rolls his head a little bit then closes his eyes and shakes it in dry amusement at Masky, then continues to speak. "Toby, if you truly are finished now, you should start heading back to the house. It is very important that we speak to Slenderman as soon as possible-"

 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm going. Chill out." He rolls his eyes and laughs slightly at Jack's irked expression and his slightly impatient stance. "See ya, (Y/n), Mira, you other losers." He lets out a few high pitched giggles and skirts out of the door frame as Masky takes a few large steps towards him with an expression that just says, 'say that to my fuckin' face.' Masky huffs, then turns with his neutral unamused expression again.

 

"So, who is ready to finally eat," Mira happily asks with a grin as she sets four plates out for us.

 

 

**Time Skip**

 

"Hello?" Masky grumbles almost intelligibly into the phone, and his expression seems ten times darker than it was before he looked to see who was calling. "Yeah, thanks for the warning."

 

I can hear the voice on the other end happily yell, "No problem!" into poor Masky's ear, which he winces at and immediately hangs up the phone, trying to prevent further hearing loss from what I can presume. He closes his eyes and lets out a shaky sigh, knowing that all eyes in the room are set on him. He then opens his eyes to directly meet mine as if he had known exactly where it would be.

 

"He's on his way, (Y/n)."

 

I feel myself take in a sharp breath, and suddenly I don't think I'm so hungry anymore. I've barely gotten to eat two because I've been engaging in a little more small talk to distract me, and now I wish I'd sped up the pace a little before my stomach decided to flip upside down. Now that I know what Slenderman was in the past, I don't know if I should trust him in the slightest even though he hasn't personally given me much reason not to think he could be someone to rely upon, and the whole ordeal simply brings up so many more questions. My mind races as I only slightly hear my fork clatter to my plate from where I loosely held it in my fingers.

 

I regret not planning what I was going to say. What if I say the wrong thing- make the wrong move- and he kills me just like he did with Amy? If he could kill his best friend, my death would be a cinch for him. It would be easy for him in that state, because even if his form  _is_  made up of manipulated shadows, he's damn powerful. And I'm going to walk up and threaten everything that he has worked for. 

 

_Who's great fucking idea was this?_

 

"(Y/n), jeez, snap out of it!"

 

I jolt back into reality as I feel Masky's hand on my shoulder. Jack and Mira have promptly removed themselves to go as far away from our conversation as possible, and Hoodie has tasked himself with gathering up the things I may need to talk with Slender just in case. A soft whimper shakily escapes my lips as I bury my head in my hands.

 

Bravery is a strong suit of mine. I was taught to be hard headed and to protect and to fend for myself in school, learning from a young age that the world was cruel- sparing no one from its sadistic rage. My mother, I realize, probably played a very large part in beating the ideology into my head. Not that she was ever mean to me, neither of my parents were, but her cautious yet incredibly caring and bold nature must have rubbed off on me. Undoubtedly it was from a life of living as a Samarin incapable of doing evil. Who knew how many times my mother could have been cheated and abused by other people because of _his_ selfish desires-

 

"Stop it, (Y/n). You need to concentrate."

 

Right.

 

In my panic, I tried to hide in the past. There is no time for this. However I can't lie to myself and say that this issue isn't different compared to other things that have required my bravery. Dealing with Sage was one thing, dealing with Lily was another, but dealing with David Silveira feels entirely different. It's personal- a gut-wrenching feeling of betrayal that makes me want to indulge in screaming and lashing out at him for reasons that seem inherent and almost carnal, but they dance away from allowing me to have conscious knowledge of what they are.

 

"What are you going to say to him? We have time to run over it a little if you want to?" Masky hesitantly, yet lovingly places his hand on my back and softly rubs it to try and console me. I close my eyes and sigh for a second then turn and meet his gaze.

 

"That's okay, I think I'm just going to look at the diary for a minute before I head out there."

 

"Back up plans? In case he decides to... you know... kill you."

 

I humorlessly grin. "Yeah, thanks for reminding me." He sheepishly grins and removes his hand from my back to thread it through his hair in nervousness. I let my grin fade into a small smile, knowing that he's just trying his best. I press my shoulder into his side and place a light kiss on his cheek. "If anything happens, go back to the house and pretend you don't know anything. I highly doubt in a situation where he is actively threatening my life that I will lie down and let him kill me though, so I should be fine, and even if I do die, apparently I can come back good as new. He should know that. He won't dare."

 

"I know, but even thinking that there is a possibility that he could hurt you even the slightest bit worries me and pisses me off- you can take care of yourself, but... but if you're gone... even for a little bit..."

 

My eyes widen as a forlorn and dreading expression washes over his face even as he slowly wraps an arm around the crook of my hip to lightly touch my lower back. I raise my arms to wrap them lightly around his shoulders and rest my forehead against his neck. "If I go anywhere, I won't be gone for long. I'll come back sooner or later. I have too many things I need to do and people I need to protect. So, trust me, okay?"

 

He stays still for a second, then lets out a soft breath through his nose and lightly holds his cheek against my ear, raising his other hand to run it through my hair as he murmurs, "I know. I do." We stay like this for a couple of seconds, then he lightly kisses my hair and starts to pull away. "Alright, you need to get going. He should be here soon."

 

I nod and stand up, smoothing out my shirt and pulling the waistband of my jeans up nervously. "Okay, let's do this." There's a slight wavering in my voice, but I start to walk towards the part of the room where Hoodie has organized all of Amy's things for me. Just as I start to curve around the couch I stop in surprise as I feel someone's hand clamp onto mine.

 

"Wait. Just promise me again, that you'll be safe."

 

I stare at him for a second, the sincerity and worry evident in his eyes despite his nature to fight allowing his emotions to show. I backtrack a couple of steps and lean down, placing a chaste kiss on his lips with a light smile. I embarrassedly pull away and turn around after realizing just how cliche and dramatically romantic that move was. "I-I promise. I'll be fine Masky, don't worry. This isn't Sage, it's Slender."

 

"But that's what worries me most."

 

**Time Skip**

 

I shiver in the chilly autumn breeze as I stay hunkered against the bark of a very large tree towards the border of the thick greenery that surrounds Mira's home. Toby is more insightful than he seems, having taken time and setting into account before telling Slenderman where to meet me. I imagine he kept it vague and kept face in being his usual self as he talked with Slender as well, since he has yet to arrive at the meeting place, and if he were alarmed I suspect that he would be here as soon as he could, looming darkly over the small patch of flowers I laid in a couple of days before after getting back from Liechtenstein. Toby must have realized something was wrong and gave me a tactical advantage.

 

I blow warm air into my hands as my hair flutters over my shoulders in the wind. I want to close my eyes against it, but I don't want to miss anything, so I turn away from the indecisive breeze blowing from different directions each time. My feet stand only a couple of meters away from the edge of the small field wedged between two medium-sized trees for cover, so if I, for any reason, need to run, I have the cover I need to be able to block his abilities hopefully without being noticed. While my mind has trouble wrapping around the concept, my body inherently knows what to do and what to feel for as instinct, but it's still slightly disconcerting that I don't know the exact steps of stealing an ability from someone else- it just happens.

 

My ears want to ring with how hard I'm concentrating my hearing on the forest around me, the wind screaming in my ears and the leaves rattling against each other in the trees causing a cacophonous mix of noise to bang about the inside of my head. I wince and whip around as the slight crunch of frosted grass in front of me- still stiff from a lack of sun rays peeking through the clouds despite being in an open field- and take in a small hiss of breath as the familiar lanky figure of Slenderman strides slowly out into the open field. He seems confused as he scans the trees, and just as he turns his back something wells up inside of me and makes me move.

 

My feet are at the edge of the forest and my eyebrows are furrowed in slight anger as my mouth opens without my true consent.

 

" _David_."

 

The being who was swiveling and actively looking for me goes rigid. His shoulders are bunched up in defense and his fingers are splayed out yet hooked as if he has locked every one of the joints in his fingers stiffly into one place. They shake slightly for a few seconds, then he flexes them and clenches them into large white fists.

 

"Amy... what are you doing here? This is impossible- you... you are dead..." My body is frozen in shock as, instead of hearing the distant and echoing voice that I'm used to, I hear the voice of a man that sounds middle-aged, his voice quivering with what sounds either like fear or extreme sadness. Or both.

 

"What have you become?" I ask mostly to myself in a soft voice, but his shoulders bunch up even further as he stares at the ground in what I can assume is shame. He seemed to have heard me.

 

"I became the image of the monster I was when I was human. Truthfully you were right, all monsters are human, or they often times once were. I have taken in those who have suffered and given them better opportunities, however, and now that I truly embody the monster I once was in for in exchange for the mindset, I have taken on new ideals and goals as well. Forgive me, dearest Amy, but it seems misery loves company." He slowly turns, and I clutch my hands to my chest, fearing his reaction when he sees that it's just me. Should I steal his abilities? Should I run? Should I- no. If I want to make a fair deal, I have to make sure he knows that I will remain harmless to him. When his gaze sets on me, he goes rigid for a couple of seconds, then relaxes more than he was when he thought I was Amy, but still stays incredibly tense. "Ah... I... did not expect to see you uttering that name... I assume that name is the reason you requested my presence."

 

I blink a couple times, slightly shocked that he didn't rush forward to at least throttle me for somehow reminding him of Amy, but now he only looks scared, but mainly forlorn. "Yes... I wanted to inform you of my knowledge of your true form and your past. I'm not here to threaten you with it, but I want you to know that I can understand the stance you are taking on keeping Samarin out of the house."

 

"So you found me out. Yes, truly the reasons I had to expel you from the house were not all revealed to you that night we spoke, however what I said was true. I do not want to have the opportunity to take your ability from you even be a plausible option, and the thought that you or that young woman, Mira, would eventually conclude that I was of the same race as you and share with the Creepypastas terrified me. I assume you have read Miss Lazarus' diary?"

 

I let his words sink in for a second and then step out into the clearing so he can see me better before taking a deep breath. I think he seems harmless enough right now for me to tell him, so I open my mouth to speak. "Masky and Jack found the box in the attic and brought to me. They also found the photo album. They only wanted to find something to use if you decided not to let me back in the house even if I controlled my abilities."

 

"Ah, it seems you and your friends have done some thorough digging, Miss (L/n). I cannot blame you or them for it, as it is expected for you to have wanted to find anything to use for blackmail against me. It would be a natural reaction for you, knowing as much as you did, and the information you found was inevitably what you were looking for."

 

He seems resigned to it. More resigned than I would like him to be as a powerful being, Samarin,  _monster-_  as he calls himself. Clear remorse bleeds onto his face but I still warily eye him. It seems so different to know that this huge monster, one of the most inhuman things that I have ever seen, is more human than a lot more human than I ever felt myself to be. It almost reminds me of "Beauty and the Beast" except, in the end, the beast changed because it took the one he loved dying by his hands to realize that his ways were wrong. It sounds more like it came from Grimm's book of fairy tales this way, yet it's still darkly charming, almost.

 

"As I have said to you, I am not here only to threaten you, I would like to level with you and create a proposition that will inevitably, in my mind, be better for every party involved." I pause to make sure he seems open to the deal, and he relaxes a little more as he turns to face me completely, giving me a curt nod. I take a deep breath and continue. "I would like to be treated as an equal in matters such as these. As you may have noticed, my control of my abilities is increasing considerably. If I reach the point where my ability will not inadvertently affect you and everyone else, I still will not come back until I have set out to try and return all Samarin back to their former selves. Until I am done and you are all out of harm's way in that sense, I will not come back. However," I pause and take one step closer so he hears me and sees me as clear as he can, "when I do return- when I have gotten rid of the danger you and the Creepypastas all face and stay in the safehouses for- I expect you to break the real truth to them and give them the choice to leave or stay. There will be no need to use your mind manipulation against them, so I will ask you to do away with that as well, but only when it is safer for everyone. I will not tell anyone about your past unless I deem it necessary either. Any objections?"

 

He stays silent for a few seconds, then softly speaks. "Would you mind if I took some time to think it over? I do not ask for much, only ten minutes at the very least. I simply need to weigh out my deal with you."

 

I politely nod, which he returns before he faces the downwards slope of the hill and allows himself to sink down into the frost-coated flowers and tall grass. I hesitantly move to join him, but stay a few feet to his right- his past still making me weary. I take the time to run over a few thoughts. He seems to be taking this considerably better than I thought he would due to how he was portrayed to be in the past, but when he wasn't there I seemed to have forgotten how genuine his hospitality and his need to protect everyone is now, as Slenderman. Now that I know his real name, I feel weird thinking about calling him "Slenderman". It seems almost ridiculous now that I know he is the same as me, and it is weird to know that there is a medium toned man with almost navy colored blue eyes and undoubtedly immaculately combed obsidian colored hair hidden under a mass of shadows that make up the body he has punished himself to look like.

 

"I assume you would like to carry out your revenge as well? Once you do finish, it may take quite some time to locate the Samarin, possibly even years if we were to reach the true point of safety of which we would need in order for me to allow your request to take place. Are you certain this is where you will take your life?"

 

I hum in thought and stay quiet to think for a second before speaking. "Before I can even think of settling down, I need to take care of these more important priorities. I'm the only one that has the power to, and it's my responsibility whether I like it or not. I will get there someday, and who knows when that day may come, but until everyone is back to living as free people, I refuse to sit back and rest."

 

David thoughtfully nods as I pick at the petals of a tiny flower surviving the cold air, gently running my fingertips over the smooth surface. "That was the answer I was looking for. A remarkable feat no one else would dare attempt or even want to attempt even if given the means to do it. I will not stop you, but please take your time and be wary. Samarin such as me can have very misguided and wrongful ideologies even without this mind manipulation that affects us. One of those Samarin used to be me."

 

I stop for a second. I completely forgot. Why is he normal and in control of his judgment if the mind manipulation should have affected him? "Hold on a second. Quick question: how did you keep your mind intact when Amy manipulated all Samarin?"

 

He seems slightly shocked by my seemingly random comment but obliges in answering all the same. "Truthfully I found out only a few years ago what truly happened after years of studying how my abilities and the ability... Amy possessed... functioned. The manipulation does not work on the host in her ability's case, and works a lot slower on those who happen to be half Samarin and it does not have as drastic of an effect. By using her ability fast enough to slow the process, I could prevent a large portion of the damage, but as you may have read in that diary, it is an irreversible command. Once it has been set in place, it cannot be taken back unless physically extracted, I'm assuming, by someone who can convert abilities and manipulate energy within themselves such as you. If it truly had not been for her, I do not think I would have enough good in me to be able to achieve such things as this, as I was affected by some of the goodness she felt for those who wronged her, both through her ability and memory. That... is another reason why I had to refuse you sanctuary within the house until you had a better hold on your abilities. I do not know how much of myself is good purely on merit and thought, and which of it is good due to the manipulation, however I would like to keep it this way. Your ability blocked a lot of this goodness, and that seemed quite evident in my harsh nature towards you. I was admittedly frightened. My brothers were more directly affected, however they are not all purely evil or good, but they are very close."

 

He continues to speak a bit, but I'm confused by this new information. If it affects all Samarin, even half Samarin, then why have I not been affected yet? It has been at the very least almost a whole week since I have learned I was a Samarin. I don't feel anything affecting me, and because my sister is afflicted by it, that rules out the possibility of it only affecting those who were alive for the manipulation when it happed. I push my head in my hands and grit my teeth, feeling overloaded with information.

 

I feel a soft weight on my shoulder and jump slightly, scaring David as he jerks his long-fingered hand away from my shoulder. "Ah, my apologies, it was a force of habit," he sheepishly adds.

 

"Oh, it's fine. I'm just a little lost within my thoughts."

 

He nods, then turns his head towards the house as it rests sandwiched within the ring of oddly shaped evergreens. I think he grins, but I can't tell. "I... believe I accept your offer. Begrudgingly, however, I accept. I cannot protect all of them forever, and their freedom and safety are paramount, and even if I wish to help them forever, I realize it simply would not be right to shackle them down for my own selfish reasons. As a requirement of my agreement, however, I would like to make one request. Once you are able to return, could you lift the manipulation off of my brothers? This curse has made them into strangers, and I would simply like them back."

 

"Of course I will. So, deal?" I hold my hand out to shake his politely.

 

He locks my gaze and takes my hand into his palm. I'm shocked to fell a human hand and look down to make sure that I'm right, and with an incredulous look, when I move my gaze back up, I'm met with navy laced blue irises and a light smile.

 

"Let us begin our deal with honesty, then, and do well to keep to our individual responsibilities." It's odd seeing his voice rolling off of human lips, but I push aside the thought to curtly nod in affirmation.

 

And we firmly shake hands.

 

The deal is set.


	41. No Rest for the Idiot Author

Weeeeelll so I'm really busy again. It's finals week at school next week and the beginning of the week after that, so teachers are cramming in final tests and major projects in so we can get all of the stuff we missed done before the next semester. I also have a debate meet this Saturday and we're taking two teams this time, so- being the designated speech writer- have to make 8 whole speeches for two groups of 10 people and 4 of those might not even be used but the gotta be good as mutherfuckingfuck. So that is why I am going to post next week instead of today, because I have half a chapter at best and it is preeeeetty shitty in my op. But at least last week's chap was a combo of two sooooooo technically I'm on track? Yeah. Okay. So I'll see you guys next week. Sorry for the inconvenience. :/


	42. Polar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Okay so I have never been this busy in my entire fucking life I swear. I have two major tests tomorrow and I haven't even started taking finals yet. I also have an art project, an essay, two huge packets of final review things, and I am dying over here because I have no time. And by that, I mean I haven't been able to sit down and eat without doing homework. I have also gotten a grand total of 3 hours of sleep every night this week and I am living off of coffee and granola bars right now, so I'm dead, but I had a good 17th birthday on Monday so that was good. Hope you guys enjoy regardless. XD

 

Warning: Destruction of heavenly bread (not for the faint of heart) ~~I swear this isn't a crackfic (not including like a few paragraphs)~~

 

"As we have concluded our business, I must bid you farewell. I have a prior engagement within the house that I must attend to, for fear of losing precious silence for the next few days." David lets go of my hand and lays his forearm over his knee as he continues to look at me, a slightly playful grin on his face as he speaks.

 

I laugh and nod in understanding, matching his grin. "Yes, I heard you are making garlic bread from Toby."

 

"Mister Rodgers can be quite the pest when it comes to food, unfortunately."

 

" _Don't I know it_." I laugh as he moves to stand. He then turns and extends his arm politely to help me stand up, which I take with a lot less caution than I had before. He gently pulls me to my feet before him, then nods slightly to make sure I know he heard me. We stand in silence for a second, watching as the playfulness fades from our faces as our hands go back to our sides.

 

"...I do wish you the best of luck in your end of the deal," he soberly comments.

 

"Thank you. The same goes for you too..."

 

We continue to stand in silence- something is beating at our chests force its way out and be said, and we both take time to consider saying what it is to each other. It takes about thirty seconds to reach the conclusion that whatever it is, it's better left unsaid for now, as we are not yet friends again- if we ever really were. I want to say it, to say that I'm sorry for what happened with Amy and wish he had become a better person another way- to show that I can somewhat understand- but I feel like it's not my place, seeing as I can't truly put myself in his shoes and be truly empathetic. I don't know what he is contemplating on saying, however we both reach the decision to leave it unsaid at the same time.

 

"You should get back. Y-you know how impatient Toby is," I attempt to bring back a bit of playfulness, but it falls flat for both of us.

 

"You are right. I thank you for this respectful discussion, and wish you the best of luck... um... yet again." A look of embarrassment washes over his features for a fleeting second, but it is gone in the blink of an eye.

 

"Thank you again. I'll... see you around I guess."

 

"Until next time, then."

 

I nod and watch as his expression turns somber as he looks at me for a second, but just like the embarrassment, it is gone before I can barely register it and he turns to leave. Just as he takes his first step away from me, a black smoke rises from his pale shadow and winds around his legs like a purring cat. Once it envelops the form of his legs entirely, it then works its way up his body, trailing more of the dark, roiling substance with it until his body gradually disappears altogether. Once it is finally out of my sight, the smoke dissipates into small wisps that throw themselves away from him and become invisible, leaving the form of Slenderman behind. It's entrancing, and he seems completely unaffected by the change in form as he strides down the hill and off into the trees once again.  

 

I stare after him for a minute, then allow myself to settle back down into the grass again, realizing that I don't really want to go back to the boys yet. I realize they might have already left because of a flaw in our plan. They really wouldn't be able to know if something went wrong during my proposal of the deal unless I told them or they were watching me, and it was a bit of a given that it would be a risk I wasn't willing to take to let them watch from the shadows. With all of the nervousness and confusion of this morning, I'm surprised everything went as smoothly as this did.

 

I sigh and lean back so my shoulders press lightly against the crinkling grass and flower stems behind me, then I close my eyes and stare up at the slate-gray clouds above me as I fold my arms behind my head. The warmth coursing through my body from my automatically channeled warmth I've gotten used to pulling from the sun or other objects around me keeps me in comfortable bliss as I lay here as if I were below the summer sun instead of the clouds of winter. I pick up my hand and hold it up in front of my face, remembering the odd feeling of David's hand against mine. The surprise of it lingers within me as I stare at my palm, remembering the oddly familiar yet alien warmth that I felt from the being I once knew to be so different. I let out a sigh and allow my hand to drop. It's weird how normal he actually seems to be once you get to the heart of who he is- beyond the smoke and mirrors. I wonder how much of it is the man he really is- beyond the mind manipulation.

 

I can't help but think that he is relying on the mind manipulation to blame his goodness upon it. It seems like something he might do, considering how he speaks of and to Amy, or the thought of her. Some of the things that come out of his mouth wouldn't be able to with the powerful effects of her mind manipulation, and from her account in the diary, he would have taken her power quick enough to stop the manipulation before it truly started. He said that he was being hateful towards me because he the goodness in him was being blocked, but for some reason, I think that this conclusion has come from hindsight. Every time he talked to me, I could see the genuine expressions in him through the way he spoke and how he handled the things around him. The only time he was any type of mean to me was when he kicked me out, and even then I could see the pain hidden behind the resolve and duty of his stern expression. He wasn't being evil, he was doing his duty. And I think Amy's death is the reason for his 180, not her ability. 

 

"So it went well?"

 

I jolt up into a sitting position, grabbing my chest in fright.  _GOD,_  people  _really_  need to stop sneaking up on me. I scan the trees around me and the open field, but I can't find anyone.

 

"What do you mean?" I ask, hoping to find where the person is based on their answer.

 

"Your thing with Slendick!" I yelp as the voice comes from right behind me, and whip around to face whoever it is. I'm surprised to see a pair of glowing reddish-orange eyes. I scream and immediately throw myself away from who I assume to be Sage from experience and kick myself back a few feet away from her to throw myself up into a fighting position. "Woah, woah! Re- _lax_ , (y/n). Soooo, I'm assuming it didn't go well?"

 

I stand paralyzed as my brain finally converts the image from a hallucination of Sage to Toby as he takes off what seem to be orange ski-goggles and flashes me a shit-eating grin.

 

"Fuck  _you_ , Toby," I growl as I clench my fists, embarrassed and still feeling the effects my terror from thinking that he was Sage somehow. 

 

"Chiiiiiill, ok-kay? I just wante-ed to scare ya a little. You know, to ke-ep you on your  _toes_ ." He waggles his finger as he points it at my feet, then grins at me, which I return with a death-glare.

 

"Don't you have anyone else to _bother_ right now?" I snap. Really right now isn't the time to be dealing with this shit.

 

"None as f-fun to tease as you," he coos.

 

" _Touching_ , now get lost before I throw you down this hill."

 

"Alright, alright- I guess you don't w-want any of this de- _licious_ garlic br-read, hm?"

 

"Fuck your garlic bread."

 

He slams a hand over his chest and staggers a few feet back, which causes my eyes to widen. His mouth opens and closes a few times and he makes this weird sucking noise, so I worriedly step forward in case he is having some type of seizure associated with his Tourettes or something, but when I get close, his sucking noise turns to a weird screechy noise as he points at me, aghast. I look around, incredibly confused before he finally starts speaking again.

 

"You. Are. A.  _DISGRACE_. How  _dare_ you insult the most he-heavenly thing on earth next to waffles!"

 

I roll my eyes and hold my hand to my head as I shake it in annoyance, muttering curses under my breath as he continues to call me a disgrace and an abnormality of nature for dissing his precious bread.

 

"Toby, leave her alone. You will annoy her to death." I turn and clap my hands together in front of my face in thankfulness as I hear the pleasantly familiar voice of EJ. He laughs softly next to both Masky and Hoodie as they make their way a little ways down the slope so that they can meet us in the middle. 

 

"Thank the _stars_ you came. I don't think I would have survived Toby's rant on garlic bread for ten more seconds without murdering him."

 

"Ten more seconds it is!"

 

Just as Toby takes a large, over-exaggerated breath to begin his rant, someone cuts him off. "Toby shut up your memes suck ass. It's a dead meme now anyway."

 

All of us turn to look at Masky as he nonchalantly stares at Toby, whose jaw has gone slack and hangs open in shock, a hurt expression taking over his entire face. Jack is the first to break the silence by laughing louder than I have ever heard him laugh before. We continue to stare in shock at him now as he doubles over. I blink a couple of times and chuckle along with him a bit, finding his hysterical laughing funnier than the actual event. 

 

"I have three questions. One, why the fuck are we talking about garlic bread, two, who made you this much of a savage and when, Masky, and three, how did it go, (y/n)?" Hoodie asks over Jack's laughter and Toby's (hopefully) pretend blubbering. I snicker a couple more times at Toby and Jack, then step over Jack's body to talk to Masky and Hoodie.

 

"The proposal went well. He was actually a lot more understanding than I thought he would be. He knows that you guys know, and after he went back I realized you guys probably took off to head back- sorry I didn't think about you guys not knowing what was going on..."

 

Masky moves near me again and claps a hand to my shoulder with a slight grin. "Don't worry about it. We all decided to stay up at the house with Mira anyways."

 

"Yeah, we didn't want to risk running into Slenderman on our way to the house, so we just decided to stay and wait. Masky could _not_ stand still he was so worried." Jack seems to be in a more lighthearted mood as he pushes back against Toby's foot from where he has fallen on the ground laughing. Toby continues to struggle in trying to slam it into Jack's face, however Jack barely even pays any attention to it. I snort as he grins up at me from the ground and waggles his eyebrows, nodding his head at Masky, then making a kissy face. I don't know if he's tired, somehow drunk, or just being weird, but it's weird and funny as hell.

 

"Well I guess that was a better idea in the end if it didn't go well. Sorry I didn't contact you guys."

 

"It's fine, we figured you had a lot on your mind, so we were just going to scout from above to see if the clearing was empty, then come find you, but we saw you laying down so we decided to come check on you before we went back to the house."

 

"Good thing, too." I roll my eyes and nod my head at Toby just as Jack shoves him back and sends him on his ass in front of Jack.

 

"NO, you're gonna crush the garlic bread I was gonna share!"

 

"Share with who? You're going to have around 20 pieces left back at the house anyways," Hoodie remarks.

 

"I brought them for (y/n)!"

 

Everyone stops for a second and looks at Toby, who delicately handles the bundle of wrapped up bread that he takes out of the bag he is carrying- oblivious.

 

"Ooooh, Masky's got  _competition,_ " Jack snorts as he moves to get up. I bend down and shove him a little, which causes him to jolt forward with a yelp and roll a couple of feet down the small incline we are at.

 

"Hey! Who did that?" He playfully growls once he stops rolling, whipping around to look up at all of us. Masky holds up his right hand and makes a motion behind it like he is pointing at me, but he blocks it so Jack is the only one who can see it.

 

"Hey! You're a traitor!" I laugh as I knock my shoulder into him, causing him to laugh as he staggers to the side. Jack throws himself up while Masky and I push into each other as hard as possible to try and knock the other over, and I have to give up to just barely dodge him.

 

We roughhouse for a little while longer, then sit down in the grass once we are tired out and they start to get cold. I lean against Masky's shoulder a little practicing sharing a little bit of the warm energy within me and generating more at the same time. I used Toby as a practice dummy first, of course, so Masky is the third person with Jack being last for his comment.

 

"We should get back soon. He'll wonder where the hell we are, and he might want to talk with us. You told him we know, right?" Masky whispers to me as Toby and Hoodie talk about some random game being released that BEN has stolen the living room TV for.

 

"Yeah. And you're right. I can walk you guys back," I raise my voice in slight question. He shakes his head at it though.

 

"We're going to teleport probably, and I don't want you to have to walk all that distance back. I think we'll say our goodbyes here. We're not that far away, and we can text, so I think we'll be fine without acting like this is the last time we will even see each other."

 

"Alright then, are you ready?"

 

"Yeah, hold on," he turns to face the rest of the group and away from me, "hey guys, you ready to go?"

 

"I guess. I'm ready, you guys?" Jack turns to talk to the other two, who begrudgingly nod.

 

We all pick ourselves up and dust off little bits of frost from the flowers sticking to the cooler, outer areas of our clothes. I quickly share some of my ability with Jack so he isn't shivering to death, which he thanks me for, then we start to make our way up to the flatter part of the small meadow.

 

"Okay, I'll see you guys sometime soon. I have your phone numbers already, so I'll text you later to let you know my new phone's number."

 

"Sweet. Okay, Toby, Hoodie, you guys can teleport by yourselves, I can take Jack-"

 

"No it's fine, I'm a bit more well rested than you. I can take it better," Hoodie interrupts him, yet kindly offers.

 

"Fine by me."

 

"Okay then, I'll see ya later, (y/n). Eat all of that garlic bread or I will hunt you down," Toby playfully threatens.

 

I roll my eyes and mutter, "I will." He then waves with a happy grin and a sucking noise replaces his figure within a few seconds.

 

"We'll leave you two lovebirds be, I guess," Jack teases and laughs when I make a swipe at him, barely dodging me. Hoodie snorts, then politely waves goodbye, which I return. He then he moves his hand to rest it on Jack's shoulder and they leave only the noise in the air behind them.

 

"I wanted to thank you. Even though it was a tough situation, you kept your promise."

 

My smile fades only slightly. Technically I didn't keep my promise as well as I should have. Instead of staying out of sight, I rushed right into danger like an idiot.

 

"I think... being careful has nothing to do with how things played out today. Slender's understanding and patience are what really influenced everything."

 

"Well, I thank you for treading lightly all the same. While... I'm really bad at saying it or showing it..." he runs a nervous hand through his hair and looks away, "I really do care about you and your safety."

 

"I know. I can tell- you don't always have to say anything." I smile and bump my forehead into his chest as I lean into him. "Thanks for the support with this. Hopefully I can get this all done as quick as possible. I want to be able to live peacefully again, and I just hope it doesn't take too much time."

 

"Of course I will support you- and if it takes time, then take home with you. If you need to go and need someone to help you get it done faster, I'll always volunteer. I'm sure others will jump at the opportunity too. You're quite the celebrity at the house now, I think."

 

"Ha ha, really?"

 

"Yep. There is no being in that house that doesn't know who you are at the very least. But regardless, I will be there if you want me."

 

"I'll remember that." I smile and lean up to give him a small kiss on the lips, reveling in the warmth of it for a second before pulling away. "Now go on, we can talk later."

 

"Alright, I'll see you later then." He gently cups my cheek and places a small kiss to my hair, then backs away.

 

"See you later."

 

And with that, he disappears before my eyes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: So before things get intense again, I wanted a little bit of fun and a little bit of reflection. Now I need to study for my math test first period tomorrow, so goodnight for now. Hope you enjoyed. :)


	43. Relativity

A/n:  **SENSITIVE MATERIAL WARNING**

So there's a bit of heavy material in here, so I'm just warning you guys so you know. It's some **really heavy themes surrounding**   **suicide/death** , but we've dealt with this before. The very sensitive themes I write about sometimes aren't for shits and giggles as I've said, however, and by no means do I think that this type of thing is a joke. Just to remind you guys again before you read. All of you have been incredibly understanding, but it's just my luck that someone might not be so understanding, or might take it the wrong way.  **So listen, I'll spell it out to be sure. I'm _not_ trying to glorify suicide. The themes are absolute trust, and how sometimes a huge and incredibly frightening change is necessary in order for someone to improve. PLEASE remember this.**

SO anyway, this is just so you are warned. I hope you enjoy and will continue to enjoy later chapters. Thank you for reading once again! :)

* * *

 

 

It feels two thousand times colder at the top of the hill, and maybe it's because I've been made to wear this stupid swimsuit again, but it might just be from it being at a higher altitude where it is windier. Probably a combination of both. I pick little bits of rock and grains of dirt off of my arms and legs, grumbling that I can't catch a break from training with Mira, even though I understand that this stupid work is necessary.

 

I rest my hand on my hip and pop it out, looking down and across the forested landscape I have walked around in for the entirety of my life, the scenery taking a new meaning to me from a different perspective. From up here, the most crucial and monumental things in my life that happened down there seem infinitesimally small and far away. I've come a long way- physically and mentally- from how I was a week ago. It's like I have turned 180 degrees around and traveled light years away from the direction I had been walking in before I met Masky. It's oddly refreshing.

 

I yelp and hunch over as something smacks the back of my head from behind, then whip around to rub the now sore spot on my head and glare at Mira, who stays tapping her foot in impatience. I quirk my brow at her annoyed expression, but right myself again to listen to what she has to stay.

 

"You need to be looking up there," she stabs her finger through the air and up towards the topmost ledge of the waterfall I need to climb to, "quit dawdling, we have a tight schedule we need to stick to. The information you learned yesterday needs to stay fresh in your mind for this, and with time it will slip away. The more time you waste, the more time I will have to reteach you. Get to moving."

 

My lips twitch downwards, but nonetheless, I move to continue climbing up and past the small shelf I had stopped to rest on. As a requirement, Mira had me warm up by manipulating Amy's energy and temporarily blocking it from shutting her true self out completely- pushing me to do the hardest things first so that everything else would come easier later on. 

 

It was odd, yet familiar. The energy coursing through her led all the way to the heart of her being, where I could feel the main sphere of roiling energy that should have belonged completely to Mira which was similar to my own. The energy I now know to be Amy's had touched the core, however, and had taken over the entirety of the sphere save for a tiny mass of energy buried in the middle. It was suffocated by the foreign energy around it, but once I knew how it felt, I grasped it and dragged it out from its resting place, then slowly and gradually converted the surrounding energy to match the original part I was grasping- giving her a small way to be herself.

 

In a way, I guess it was similar to how you mix paint. The small dot of black in the middle was darker and more powerful when drawn out, yet it was suffocated and confined by the mass of lighter colored paint that surrounded it. I started in the middle and drug outwards to make a small path of that similar color. It's allowing Mira to let her true self come out, yet the path is so small that it is only letting a small part of her take control with an immense amount of effort.

 

Though the difference- it seems- between the energy and paint, is that the larger mass of energy always suppresses the smaller, and crams it into one place gradually with time. Part of me guiltily thinks it's a good thing right now that she won't be able to be such a brat for long. But then again, she's also even more on edge because of the time crunch, and her original self seems to be even more intolerable.

 

With Mira at my heels, I finally make it to the very top of the waterfall and throw myself onto the flat slab rock before me. Breathing heavily as I lay on my back, I stare up for a few seconds into the gray clouds, but when Mira's agitated and snarling expression comes into view, I'm suddenly on my feet again.

 

"Stand here. Listen closely to me as you look over the edge." 

 

She points to a spot near the very edge of the waterfall with a stern expression. I suck in a sharp breath. I grit my teeth as I stand a safe distance from the edge, but continue to look out past the ground directly below the ledge I stand on. Mira continues to give me a hard expression in my peripheral.  _God_  I hate new Mira.

 

"You are afraid, right? The height scares you- it frightens you even though you know you will be fine if you fall, correct?"

 

I nod. It's not that I'm especially afraid of heights- I never really was- it's just disconcerting no matter who you are. At any time you could slip and there would be nothing left for you to do but to die. Of course I know that I'm supposed to be able to come out unscathed even after physically being  _dead_ , but I can't break the mold that I've been shaped into by living as a regular human would for so long. No matter what, I'll avoid trying it out for as long as-

 

"Jump."

 

I immediately step 5 feet away from the edge as my gaze locks onto Mira. She gazes nonchalantly after me as I stare at her like she has suddenly sprouted two extra heads that are foaming at the mouth. "What the fuck? No!" I can't help but yell at her. Fear grips my entire being.

 

"You need to know what it's like to die. It's the last step you must take before you become truly Samarin. You will be able to control your abilities with considerable ease once your body has mended itself entirely- solidifying your abilities and your being as fully Samarin. Abilities are inherent, yet manifest once you hit a certain point in your life. You have to do this in order to-"

 

"I'd rather stay as I am! I'm doing  _just fine_  like this!"

 

"Your abilities are out of control still, and you know it. You are going through a Samarin's version of puberty, in a sense. Suck it up and do it, otherwise, there is no way for you to improve."

 

"Isn't there a less... terrifying way to do it?"

 

She huffs and takes a frustrated step towards me. I take five more back with every step she takes, so she quickly stops her advancing with a growl. "No. This is the fastest way to heal, the cleanest way to do it, and it will prepare you the most. Now quit being impractical and do it."

 

" _MIRA LISTEN TO YOURSELF,"_  I screech as she rushes forward and takes my arm before I can do much to avoid her. My heels dig into the rock, cutting them as she yanks me forward. She stops for a mere second to look back at me.

 

"I understand your fear, I was made to do this as I was learning from my own teacher, but you will inevitably thank me for this-"

 

" _What?!_  For forcing me to throw myself off of a cliff-  _to kill myself_?"

 

I yank my arm away from her grasp and return to my spot a good distance away from her. She snarls at me, then starts running at me again with obvious intent of throwing me over the edge laced into her expression. Threatened, I try in my desperation to suppress the real Mira back into herself. 

 

It's wrong. It's horrible. I know.

 

But I don't want to  _die_.

 

Mira's expression falters halfway towards me just as I reach out of my body and towards her. Out of instinct, I grasp onto the flow of Amy's energy within her across the space between us, causing a surge of her energy to crash over the path of Mira's energy and smother it back to where it once was like a massive tidal wave. Mira grasps her chest with a pained and betrayed expression as she stares into my eyes, and she crumples to the ground in front of me, her momentum slamming her into the rocks below her feet. I gasp in horror at her shivering body, realizing what I've truly done, and I rush to her side in desperation, trying to forgive myself for depriving her of herself once again and causing her so much pain. I crouch next to her crumpled form with a worry-stricken face, despite knowing my grievous errors.

 

"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry," I repeat as I stare at her tiny shaking form. She curls in on herself a little more, but moves to lay a soft hand on my bent knee next to her. Tears well up in my eyes from fear and from anger at myself for not being brave enough, for not being able to solve the situation without violence, for everything under the _sun_.

 

"It is... quite alright," she murmurs as she sniffs through her nose. She pushes herself from the ground with a hand lightly placed over her nose to stem the blood flowing freely from it. In seconds she has it healed again, but the blood remains stained across her lips, chin, and chest. "I am terribly sorry for allowing it to get out of hand. It is my own fault for asking you to allow me to become myself at such a crucial time- I am sure you understand already that I am unable to be strict in this current mentality, however I can admit that my natural mind has grown less than fond of being affable in matters dealing with others." Mira raises her hand from my knee to brush it over my still terror-stricken face, wiping small tears that must have slipped out when I wasn't paying attention. "Do not blame yourself, it was a bad decision on my part to allow myself to have that much control at a delicate time such as this..."

 

"What? No, you shouldn't be sorry. I was the one that didn't do anything to stop it. I'm such a coward-"

 

I'm surprised to be cut off with the hand she has been resting on my cheek, her ultramarine irises boring into mine somewhat sternly. "You will _not_ blame yourself for this. You are no such thing, either. It is only natural for someone such as you to be frightened, and I sincerely apologize for not being a better judge of that as my true self." Mira gently removes her hand from my mouth to pat the side of my head almost lovingly with a soft grin. She waits for a second in silence, and her smile gradually fades as her hand falls slowly to her lap. She looks down for a second with a troubled expression, then returns to my weary eyes. "I apologize for my behavior, however I still stand steadfast in my decision to have you experience this today. Please do not fret- I shall explain every last detail of the process to ease your heart and mind until you are ready. I do not want to make you do this, but it simply  _must_  happen. As I said, your abilities will not completely manifest and be completely in your control until you have made the conscious choice to stay alive and live as a true Samarin. Albeit a monstrous rite of passage, it is a rite of passage we must all go through all the same. Please do not despair."

 

I continue to gaze at her with uneasiness. She offers me an understanding smile all the same. "I will also go with you once you are ready. You will not have to be alone in this endeavor. I will stand by your side for support... so are you ready to listen? You _must_ pay careful attention so this may go as seamlessly and easily on your body as possible..."

 

I blink and move my gaze to the ground beside me. I wish Masky and Jack and Hoodie hadn't left. I wish they were here to guide me through it all as people that have proven themselves to be ones that I can wholeheartedly trust. Mira is trustworthy in this state, yet I can't help but feel incredibly uncomfortable with the thought that I have to throw myself off of the edge- that I have to die to live. I understand that I _have_ to throw my inhibitions to the wind, to put my faith completely in her guidance to move to the next thing.

 

But I'm afraid- afraid of more than just dying.

 

Something inside myself is resigned to dying to live and understands what this entails: I'm finally reaching the point where I will be able to leave and find those who have wronged me- to leave the safety of my family and home to encounter and deal with things all on my own yet again. A part of me wants to stay here forever and never get better just so I can be safe, but I know that is unreasonable. But on top of this, I'm faced with the biggest decision in my life to rely on others over myself. It's understandably difficult to do after what I've been through, but I know I have to do it sometime all the same, if not now. There is nowhere to go but forward.

 

I silently nod at Mira, opening myself up to her guidance. I know that I'm a Samarin, and I know that Samarin come back from death. I have proof that I have seen with my own two eyes. All I need now is to know _how_ to come back. I'll be fine. If it is as she says, and what she says is true now that all intentions of undermining or killing me are impossible, then I will come back just fine if I listen closely.

 

So I make up my mind and look back into her gaze.

 

"Ready?" I nod at her words. She eyes me for a few seconds to make sure that my resolve is sound before hesitantly continuing. "Okay... let's begin then," she starts. "As a brief background, Samarin have always had the choice after dying to either return to their body and mend themselves so they can continue living as they were, to be reborn as another in a new life with new memories and new abilities, or to move on to go to 'paradise' so they can see the humans and Creepypastas and other Samarin that have moved on from this life. These choices are given to us by those we have lost in a 'safe room' of our consciousness. It's full of the symbols that represent memories of our past, and it is a room we often had most of our fondest memories in or had the most powerful experiences in. The proposition is given to us by our loved ones, and once the decision is made, you will have to stay in your safe room until your consciousness has been restored. But whatever you do, do not leave your safe room today."

 

"What happens if I do?" Clear nervousness shows on my face, and her expression turns sheepish. She must have been gradually trying to calm me down with the instructions and slipped up. 

 

"...Well, if you leave your room, you will have the necessary power to restore your consciousness much quicker as your body lies dormant. However, to override this, you are risking losing your soul. It is best not to even attempt this. You will walk out into nothingness and be confined to looking for a way out for eternity unless you find the way out before the hour time limit for returning to your body."

 

Great. That's _comforting_.

 

"So what does my body do while I wait for my consciousness to return?"

 

"Your body lies dormant. Whatever damage is dealt to it will not matter as long as you have made the decision to return. Once returned, all wounds will have been healed without discrimination of who dealt them."

 

"Will I still feel what is happening to my body? What if someone does something to it while I'm stuck in the safe room?"

 

She reassuringly pats me on the shoulder. "I was a guinea pig for testing such as this while learning under my professor. No amount of damage dealt to the physical form of a Samarin who is in their safe room or out in the nothingness is felt by them. There is no need to worry about pain."

 

I furrow my brows in confusion. Lilly mentioned when she last talked to me that she heard, saw, and felt everything those men did to her- even after she had died. And if what Mira said holds true, then there is no way that she could have. And because she is still alive and a Samarin, the minute she regained her ability to move around in her body, her wounds would have been healed, so she could have no way of knowing what they did to her unless she was there experiencing it herself.

 

Before I can go to ask her, however, Mira begins speaking again.

 

"All you will have to do is speak with the loved one inside of your safe room, then wait until you return. It is a simple, yet often lengthy process. It takes time to mend the body from life-threatening injuries dealt by humans or Creepypastas, but if they were dealt by Samarin, the process is much quicker. That is why we are doing it this way. We will heal much quicker because we are Samarin _hurting_ Samarin that also happen to be ourselves. The estimated time of retrieval is near 20 minutes at the very least, and at the most 45 minutes. It all depends on injuries sustained prior to death. This is why we will simply break our necks, and sustain minimal injury from impact. If our heads hit first, it will absorb most of the shock, centralizing the damage."

 

I grit my teeth at the macabre explanation that she brushes off with an odd nonchalance. She notices this and runs a hand through her long blonde hair sheepishly. It seems incredibly odd for her to say such things while acting so sweet all the time.

 

"Anyway, we are running out of daylight. If we do not get this over with now, we will be traveling down the rest of this waterfall in complete darkness. Come." She motions for me to stand up. My ass stays glued to the rocks beneath me. "Please, trust me. You will be fine. I'm going right down with you, remember? And I can assure you that I will be back much quicker than you. It gets easier and faster after a few times, so I will be by your side when you leave, _and_ when you return. I can wholeheartedly promise you this."

 

My teeth stay locked together and my heart plummets into my stomach, then starts rapidly beating and sends nervous goosebumps along my flesh. "Come." She repeats. "You will be fine- it is just the same as a trust fall. I will be here to help you. Just jump."

 

My eyelids slam shut, and I curl up, gathering my wits for a second. She's pulling me to my feet with a strength I didn't really know she had, though, and she is walking me to the edge. My eyes are sealed shut. I feel it's better this way for a second, then I just can't stand it. My eyes are blinded by the light around me for a second. And the landscape surrounds me once again. My toes curve over the slippery edge as if to try and keep gripping it so I don't fall. My hand is clasped tightly onto Mira's as I look out, my breathing erratic and my heart trying to throw me over the edge with how hard it beats. 

 

I try to well up the courage in me and talk myself into it. I don't want to, but I have to in order to survive and move on- as incredibly paradoxical as it seems.

 

"Remember what you have to do?" Mira softly asks.

 

"Stay in the safe room and talk with the person in the room. Decide to come back as myself again." My voice sounds robotic but still shakily laced with horror.

 

"Good... you are ready. Now trust in me. And jump."

 

My eyes flit over to her just as she closes her eyes. A sudden breath gets stuck in my lungs and I'm stepping back. My mind is out of control, and my heart is screaming at me to step further back, and just as I do, I notice her hand tightly gripping mine with the same strength I didn't know she had and the golden ends of her hair are exiting my vision.

 

I try to scramble back, but the slipperiness of the waterfall betrays me, and suddenly all I can feel is Mira's hand and the air whipping my hair against my skin while turning my feet practically into ice from the remaining water. Her hair licks across my hand like whipping golden flames, and my heart stalls completely along with my lungs. My eyes stay wide open, staring at the landscape yet again, now flipped upside down in my eyes.

 

And here, once again, I realize I have turned 180 degrees from where I was going before, in the _same_ place I had done it before when I was first thrown into this life. I'm putting all of my trust in Mira, just as I had put all of my trust in Masky to help me get through my complete turnaround once before. The insanity and the pain, the abnormality and the strain, but also the love and friendship uncontained- all the beauties and tragedies of life I have now seen that were hidden just behind me for years, that I would never have seen without trust and change.

 

And suddenly my heart is beating calmly again, and I'm slowly breathing in the fresh, misty air the waterfall kicks up from below, Mira's hand is warm and comforting against my skin, and the flipped landscape in front of me is cast in a wash of gold just as the sun breaches the wall of clouds on the horizon, creating the most serene view I have ever seen in my lifetime. 

 

So I close my eyes to keep the image stamped into my mind.... just as the sound of the waterfall becomes deafening in my ears.

 

And everything snaps away from me entirely.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Sooooo that was rough, yet necessary. The fear of death is what inhibits bravery, and the reader will have to find a new well of bravery to tap from as we get into the second half of our second arc of sorts. Remember, I am not trying to glorify suicide, but to show that sometimes a leap of faith and a change in perspective is what we need the most in our lives in order to improve. Hopefully I haven't depressed any of you or brought up any painful memories or anything- that obviously isn't my intention- but if I did, I'm truly sorry. I only am striving for realism, as I have ironically stated, and I do apologize if I have.
> 
>  
> 
> But thank you guys, really, once again for reading. I appreciate all of your support and your dedication for simply checking in every once in a while. So thanks. :)


	44. Reunification

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm lazy 'n tired sooo read above and below the bar thingymadoodlethings. Yep.

A/n: OOOOkay. I am a whole fucking day behind. I went through this entire day today, and yesterday, and the day before yesterday thinking that the day I was in was actually the day previous. So I thought, at two in the morning on THURSDAY today (which was Wednesday but it's now Thursday), that my chapter was gonna be up and posted bright and early tomorrow morning for everyone. But no, it's Thursday. I'm a complete and utter goddamn idiot, but I hope you enjoy the chapter. At least it's around 4,000 words this time. XD

* * *

 

 

"...This is the end of the beginning..."

 

At the sound of what I recognize to be a voice, a shockwave of sound pierces my body from below me. My back arcs upwards as I expect immense pain, but all I feel is a tremendous amount of pressure from all around me, stemming from where I thought I was pierced. I suddenly breathe in, my mind in a flurry of panic as I remember that it is inherent to my survival, but as soon as I do, the pressure fills my lungs with ice and expands outwards, making my body feel like it is being smashed into a ring; crushed from the inside out and the outside in. The cold expands and threads through my skin like thousands of needles- which for some reason doesn't hurt, and leaves only the pressure remaining- crisp and sharp.

 

I try to move, but I am paralyzed; floating in an abyss. My eyes snap open, trying to figure out where I am, but all I see is the darkness that surrounds me, suspending me in nothingness. I feel like I'm sinking, or slowly being lowered from cables, and I feel as if I am fading further and further, becoming one with the darkness that surrounds me, and intense fear and helplessness adds to the pressure ripping me apart from within.

 

But suddenly... I hear the voice again.

 

It fades in through my ears, muffled and almost inaudible. And suddenly, it feels as if I am being reeled in solely by the sound of that voice. My arms drift upwards, and my body curves upwards as I'm pulled deeper, closer.

 

"...where what you once were ends... and is remade into something new."

 

The pressure that surrounds me, I recognize to feel like water, and just as I can feel my ears able to hear some of what the person is saying, I realize that it sounds as if we are both underwater.

 

The voice is directly below me. It's soothing, but frightening all the same in the darkness where I can't see any sign of anything despite keeping my eyes wide open, and I panic lightly as I go to turn, but can't in the pressure that surrounds me. I whimper and cough as the pressure in my lungs makes me gag with the need for air, and as soon as my mind feels like it might explode with the same pressure, the voice below me stops right next to my ear.

 

"Hush... a new life awaits you, a new beginning... you need only choose the route you wish to take."

 

I try to tell them that I can't, try to squirm inside the force that holds me incapable of moving, but suddenly I feel the first warmth that I have in what feels like forever, and every bit of the darkness shoves outwards in a line above me and hits the ceiling like a firework, trailing soft pastel colors behind colored streams as they careen in all different directions along a dome-shaped pathway surrounding me. The lines of light shine down on everything within the dome, and I see that I'm suspended in mid-air for only a second before it is as if someone allowed the water I was held in to hit a floor below me and shove its way outwards.

 

The roar of the water hitting the ground and rising to meet the colorful dome around me floods my ears, and suddenly the colored streaks turn into dancing streams of colored light reflecting off of the waves like they would on a pool floor in the summer sun.

 

Just as I think it's incredibly serene and realize that I can finally breathe again, my body loses its suspension all of a sudden and plummets down for a second. I don't get the chance to scream as I come directly into contact with the person who was talking to me from what I can assume.

 

"You are safe now."

 

I turn to thank the person who caught me, but no one is there. And suddenly I realize that I'm falling yet again. And just like before, something is there to catch me. I look down to see a plush armchair below me, and when I gaze around, I see that a structure is rapidly forming. The walls are building themselves as if time-lapsed, and so are the pieces of furniture that match the armchair. In less than a minute, the structure has finished building itself and I move from my chair, taking tentative steps towards the window in one of the newly built walls.

 

I watch as the wall of water is finally released, and this time it has been merged with the colorful streams of light. It rushes towards the house, and just as it reaches me, I flinch, but I soon realize that it is slowly and steadly filling up the space around the house with the ocean, causing no harm to the house around me. All kinds of fish are being woven together from the ribbons of color, and they swim just outside of the window for a while as I watch the water level steadily rise and take the house deeper into the depths.

 

It steadily becomes dark again, but this time I don't mind as much, seeing as there are lamps and even a lit fireplace somehow within the small room that I am in. Just as I move to step away from the window, I accidentally back into someone who apparently had been standing there looking over my shoulder. We both yelp in surprise and turn to look at each other, forest green matching rouge in the soft light of the cozy room.

 

"Lilly?" I incredulously ask. She grins widely and her eyes shine with happiness. She wastes no time in rushing forward to wrap her arms around me. I can only stand still, stunned with the image before me that I never thought I would ever get the chance to see again. "How...?"

 

She pulls away with her hyperactive and incredibly large grin that I have missed so much, and it immediately shuts me up. "I've missed you! I was wondering if I was going to see you anytime soon- you're a pretty tough cookie, sis!"

 

I back away slightly, not being able to help my confused despair as I remember what Mira said about the guides that would be in our safe rooms. "Wait, are you dead?"

 

Her smile turns into a knowing and wry grin. "No 'glad to see you'? I'm hurt," she playfully murmurs and waits a couple of seconds before waving her humor off a little flippantly and turning to slump down into one of the plush armchairs that surround the fire. I look around in utter confusion. I have never seen this room before, and I most certainly know that Lilly isn't dead. "Relax, sis. Sit down for a second and I'll tell you. But first, you gotta tell me if you want to be reborn or to come back as you or what. You know, just business haha."

 

I give her a bewildered look, not believing that this is where I'm supposed to be from what I remember Mira saying. What if something happened and I can't come back?

 

"Re- _lax_. Sit down and I'll explain everything first, then. And _then_ we can get you back in the game." Lilly is persistent, and her emerald eyes shine with not only mischief, but the intent to share her knowledge. She would always give me that look when she found out what presents Mom and Dad got us for our birthdays or for the holidays. I begrudgingly sit down in a chair next to her and keep my eyes trained on her. She flips her body so her stomach is touching the seat cushion and her arms and legs rest over the arms of the chair, then she puts her chin in her hands and starts kicking her legs lightly in the air.

 

"Where am I?"

 

"You're in your safe room of course. And no, it isn't a mistake. This is a room familiar to me, actually. We share similar psyche's and I went ahead and threaded ours together. The basement is your domain, but you're welcome to stay here too." She holds out a finger to shut me up when I go to say something at that, then continues. "No, I'm not dead, but this part of me is. It's a bit complicated, but to sum it up, you know about how you're supposed to die after you get your Samarin abilities and stuff to solidify it right?"

 

I nod, and she goes ahead and continues, seeming happy to explain it all, with that ever present, wry smile on her face. "I wasn't supposed to die that night, and because I didn't have my abilities, things got alllll screwed up." She gets uncomfortable in her position, so she flips herself onto her back and makes hand motions as she talks in the air above her head. "So a bit of me got stuck here. So I made sure I could communicate with you, because my body is all messed up and I can't talk to you outside of here, so I waited 'til you died to explain."

 

"Are you talking about the pure evil within your body...?"

 

"No- well that's a hindrance too, but no. I'm talking about my body. I don't know way too much, but I know that a piece of my Samarin ability has been left here to make a guardian- which is me- and I'm suffering and unable to function properly without it, but if I don't stay here, we can't leave this place to go anywhere. Well... I guess that's not true. If I decide to be reborn or go to Paradise or whatever and leave, then the guide that was supposed to be here for you will finally show up. It's out there somewhere wandering around, but it will come in once I'm gone. So you're fine, but my mind isn't. Your safe room and mind is serving as a secondary sanctuary for me- a backup plan. Hope you don't mind the intrusion," she chirps and sticks out her tongue. "But _anyway_ , you're going back, right?"

 

"Yeah, but... Lilly, I'm confused."

 

"Oh... sorry. I haven't been able to see you so I'm a little all over the place. I'll summarize. I'm a piece of Lilly that was taken from her because no one was here to bring her back to life or go anywhere. The real guardian wasn't here because I didn't have my Samarin abilities when I died. To make this as safe as possible for myself and to be able to talk with you, I merged our safe rooms into a two-room house. And I can't leave here until I want to move on to be reborn or to go to Paradise. Without me, Lilly can't go anywhere, and if we even try to step out there," she jerks her thumb towards the door, "we'll have to swim up to the top of the ocean without being eaten by any of the fish out there, and we also can't move for more than three minutes before the pressure immobilizes us. So we can't override the hour limit thingy that keeps us here. Or it's a bitch and a half to try."

 

I rapidly blink at her language.

 

"Oopsie, sorry it's a habit I've picked up. Liberating. Not much else I can do besides talk to myself in this drowned little house at the bottom of the sea."

 

I shake my head. That isn't the least of what I should be worried about.

 

"So, do you know what is going on out there? With Lilly?"

 

"Nope. Not unless she dies and comes in here. She does it often. Her evil self is a bit reckless or somethin'." She playfully flips off of the armchair and looks out of the window, watching grey shapes of deep-sea fish that pass by the window for a second.

 

"...What about when you first died?"

 

Her happy and nonchalant expression slowly fades into a dark melancholy. She presses her back against the window from as she turns and crosses her arms to look at me. "I... didn't have a safe room yet, and I didn't have any guide, so I had to reside within my body. I was clinically dead, my heart had stopped and all of my other functions were shutting down, but my brain was still very much alive, and... I was painfully aware of everything they did." A humorless grin appears on her face as she looks at the ground, her voice low and lacking all of her usual brightness. I frown and listen intently. "In that hour, my mind was able to construct this house and break off a piece of her Samarin ability to make a guardian so I could make the choice. Guardians are usually made up of excess energy that you collect when you start generating your Samarin ability. You know, that core thingy in your chest? Because you can make more, it stores it up so you can have this way to come back as a little string to connect the core and the 'soul' of sorts with this place. So you can always come back, or you can connect yourself to a new baby containing small amounts of Samarin ability inherited from the parents, or you can join the energy of our ancestors that have moved on completely. It's all really complicated and stuff, but'cha live and ya learn. You're learning a lot of stuff too, and it just makes its way in here for me to know as well. Which makes things a whoooole lot easier."

 

"So when Lilly comes here, you just talk to yourself?" I laugh a little at the thought, and she looks almost playfully offended.

 

"Well yeah, but it's much more fun than you think. Think of talking to yourself in your mind and figuring out things you didn't remember. I'm an older, more unaffected part of her, so I think of things in a different way than her sometimes. I'm the _old_  me."

 

"So what if you manage to leave this place and get back into her body?"

 

"...She should become a full Samarin and start generating the type of energy she is missing, so she'll finally become whole and be able to generate the energy to make a guardian. But to do that I need to override the system, and go up to the surface of this ocean, but... well you see what it's like out there."

 

Lilly jumps as the large body of some large, unknown fish bumps against the glass next to her. The sound booms throughout the room, but the fish leaves it alone and swims on by without trying it anymore.

 

"Is this place safe?"

 

"Oh hell yeah, they can't get in here because it's protected by Samarin energy, but out there we're not protected."

 

I nod and sink further down into my seat, trying to wrap my head around all of this information.

 

"...One more question."

 

"Shoot, sis."

 

"Do you know where she is now? Any clues?" I figure that the first Samarin that I would want to turn back would be Lilly, and it wouldn't hurt to ask her.

 

"Ummmm..... I think she said that the fucks who did all that shit to her and mom and dad realized that she was still alive, and they made her follow them into the forest. Wherever they are, she's with them now. She mentioned a hidden cellar or something dumb, that's why she is scared to go down and check out your room. Which is _pretty_ lit by the way-"

 

I jump out of my seat so quick that it makes her jump. She looks at me in bewilderment. 

 

"What? It's just a room- why are you so excite-"

 

"She's with  _them_?!" I scream it in a mixture of hopelessness and shock.

 

"Uh, yeah, that's what I said," Lilly deadpans as she takes hard breaths from being surprised so suddenly.

 

I disregard her and rush to the window and look outside, trying to see if I can spot the surface. I need to get back into my body as fast as I can. Rushing past her, I throw open the front door without thinking, and just as soon as I do, the light from inside illuminates the wall of water just outside of the doorframe. In the midst of the water around me, I can see all sorts of strange and very large fish. Some without eyes and razor-sharp teeth that hang over their bottom jaws, some of them sleek and fast, with equally as sharp, but smaller and needle-like teeth. One very large shark-shaped fish swims through the light, showing me that it is bigger than the room we are in, and that it's many rows of teeth are just about as large as my entire body. It's black, soulless eyes catch the illuminated room, and its body betrays its size as it swiftly arcs to turn its body so that its maw is opening at me just as mine is opening to scream bloody murder.

 

Before I know it, I'm being jerked back and the door is being slammed in my face just as the monstrous creature snaps its jaws shut and makes the house shutter with the force of water being pushed against it.

 

"What are you, fucking  _insane_?" Lilly yells at me as she looms over me, looking at me with a hysteric expression. After a second of huffing from throwing me on the ground and slamming the door in fright, she runs a hand through her hair. "(Y/n), no  _wonder_  you're dead, you idiot. I'm younger than you," she grabs me by my shoulder and jerks me up onto my feet again, "and I have leaps and bounds more common sense than you ever fucking did, especially with that little stunt."

 

"Lilly, you are twelve freaking years old now, where the hell did you learn this language?"

 

She roars in laughter after finally catching her breath. "After that, that is all you're going to say? Nevermind, I learned it from you and Mom- Dad never cared much for cussing. And it doesn't help that the me that comes in here when she dies swears like a sailor from listening to her captors all day and fucking night." She takes a breath and moves over to sit down in front of the fireplace. I stay standing where I am and simply watch her as she turns her palms to face the flame. "But Sis... you also, of all people, know that age doesn't always define the maturity of the mind... and I have had to grow up pretty fast in this week." She stares with a sad resignation into the flames as she speaks. I sigh and move over to her, sitting down next to her to be by the fire as I wait for my hour to be up.

 

"I know..." I murmur. I stay in silence, closing my eyes to collect my thoughts for a second before I open them at the same time I open my lips to speak. "Lilly, I... I should have been there. Maybe I could have stopped it... maybe I could have done something..."

 

"Shut up," she softly scolds me, a hint of good-naturedness in her voice. I turn to look at her, but she just keeps staring into the flames. "If you had been there, you would have been in the same place as me. Fractured, broken, helpless. You would not have had the abilities you need right now. You wouldn't be able to save her- the Lilly that's out there. You can actually free her from them and allow her to get her revenge. She has died twelve times in the past week because of them, and she can't move from where she is chained, from what she claims. Otherwise, nobody would know, and she would keep on dying just to get some revenge. Don't let the bitchy version bog you down, she's thankful deep down and I'm thankful that you're out there fighting for us and for everyone else. I always admired you for that, Sis..." she sniffs and folds her hands in her lap before taking a breath and looking at me again. "But anyway, the time is almost up... but because I was here, it didn't allow your guardian to finish making your safe room until about an hour and forty-five minutes in, which has added to the hour on top of that. You will return to your fully mended body in no time though, so don't worry. And remember that I'm always rooting for you deep down behind all of that mucky evil energy, and that I always will love you...."

 

She moves forward and buries her misty eyes into my shoulder, enveloping me into a hug.

 

"I'll see you around town, Sis. Stay strong and stuff."

 

I close my eyes and turn my head so my cheek rests against her soft hair, then I gently kiss her head, hugging her small frame to me. "I love you too, Lil. See you 'round town." I grin against her, and hear her laugh, but it starts to fade out of my mind. My eyes stay closed as I hear the noise of me entering the water again, feeling and hearing it rush around my body and cooling my muscles as I'm pulled rapidly towards the surface. And just when I think it has been an eternity, I open my eyes to see the clear, roiling waves of the ocean surface above me, and I bust through the surface into a blinding light. As soon as I do, all of my senses fade out of the oceanic atmosphere's feeling and into only the bright light accompanied by an incessant ringing.

 

And I feel myself coming back stronger, with more purpose and more energy and drive than I ever have before- finally reuniting with the people who are living once more.

 

* * *

A/n: Decided to move a bit of this chapter to the next one, but it's like 3 AM and I'm dying. It's a good thing I'm on break. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked writing it. I'll probably refine it sometime soon, but I dunno. I always kind of thought that dying would be like floating in the waves of an ocean, or just being suspended under the water. It's incredibly liberating, a sense that it is just you and only you floating there. But there are also the scariest parts of life that surround you, and you're blind to them at first, but become more and more scared of them as you learn about them more. Like fearing death 'n stuff. Aaaaaanyway, we gotta go save Lilly, that lil' shit, and hopefully get her back to how she is supposed to be. Or not. See what happens after this commercial break. XD


	45. Tethers

A/n: Ahhh so school started back up today and it was pretty good, but my schedule changed around a bit. I got no sleep last night, but hopefully, I will be able to get some tonight because I actually had most of the chapter done for once haha. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to more. I appreciate all of your feedback and support, even if you are just reading and not actively communicating with me through comments or favorites, hearts, and the like. I appreciate you guys checking in to read all the same, so thank you!! :D

 

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Last time:

I close my eyes and turn my head so my cheek rests against her soft hair, then I gently kiss her head, hugging her small frame to me. "I love you too, Lil. See you 'round town." I grin against her, and hear her laugh, but it starts to fade out of my mind. My eyes stay closed as I hear the noise of me entering the water again, feeling and hearing it rush around my body and cooling my muscles as I'm pulled rapidly towards the surface. And just when I think it has been an eternity, I open my eyes to see the clear, roiling waves of the ocean surface above me, and I bust through the surface into a blinding light. As soon as I do, all of my senses fade out of the oceanic atmosphere's feeling and into only the bright light accompanied by an incessant ringing.

 

And I feel myself coming back stronger, with more purpose and more energy and drive than I ever have before- finally reuniting with the people who are living once more.

 

* * *

 

 

I blink my eyes against the blinding light and allow them to adjust, and just as soon as they do, I see that the blinding light is rapidly fading away from me in one direction and I'm being pulled towards another pinprick of more bluish light. It snaps into my eyes like I've been put into hyper speed or something as soon as I spot it, and I find myself blinking in pain again as the brighter light floods my vision. 

 

"(Y/n), pl... ar... you.. th.. re?" A voice booms into my ears and reverberates around my mind like the hum of a deep bass-line turned up way too loud. It's loud, but fades in and out as if I'm having trouble understanding their words as my brain reboots its systems again. "Ple... ke... up. ...e nee... you.. here with... ...s."

 

"Ugh... please shut the fuck up, you're killing my head," I grumble into the blinding light.

 

A strong gasp hisses into my ears and another voice speaks up. "Is she... com... arou...nd? (Y/n)! Are... ou ...here?!"

 

" _Holy_... is she wa...ing up?" Yet another one asks.

 

With a cacophony of voices trying their best to destroy my eardrums and make my dazed brain explode, I find myself getting easily agitated. It doesn't help that I can't really move around enough to plug my ears either. It sounds like they all move in closer, and my head feels like it actually is going to split, so as I hear more beings walking towards me, I decide to let them know that- whatever they are- they need to put a sock in it. "Fuck off, you stupid, loud-ass, piece of shit mother _fuckers_!" I can't help but yell curses at the voices as they start to cause me immense pain with more incessant chattering just as I open my mouth, which sets off a torrent of ringing in my ears.

 

"Sounds aw...ke to me."

 

"Step ...ack, ..he is boun.. to ex...er..nce a spi...e in her sen..es and con...fu...on, so ..ry not to sp...k too lou..ly."

 

All noise dulls down to only sounds of the air around me moving and the thrumming of what I can guess to be heartbeats. They aren't that loud, but they still beat in my ears at odd paces that I can distinguish, and with the lulling noise I slowly start to relax. But just as I breathe out a sigh of relief, something extremely loud pierces my ears and makes me cry out and arc my spine in pain. My ears feel like they going to bleed from having busted my eardrums, but I can still hear through them somehow.

 

"Whoops, so....y."

 

I try to let my eyes adjust to the intense light that keeps blinding me, and eventually my vision fades in, going in and out of focus on the sloping ceiling above me. Wait... ceiling? And how many voices did I just hear?

 

"Lilly? Mira? Are you there?"

 

"I'm here, I ...ought you to s... Jack. I did not kn... what to do..." I think I hear her sob lightly, but with the other noises it is hard to tell. I decide that she definitely is crying a second later though, because I can hear the tears rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto her hand

 

I move my hands around my body, feeling for where I am and where she is so I can comfort her. I seem to be on a couch or a cot against a wall of some sort because it's pretty small and my hand slopes down on one side but up on another. When I can't find Mira's hand, I try to push myself up into a sitting position, but someone gently pushes me back down with a firm hand. "Woah, woah, there. T..ke it easy."

 

"Take it easy?" I scoff lightly. "So Mira can run around but I can't?" I laugh a little, trying to ease the mood a little as my hand slips off of the couch to find the back of her hand finally.

 

"Well  _Mira_  wa...n't dead for two and a half hours!"

 

I unwittingly screech in pain as the voice I just heard explodes throughout my ears and causes an incessant ringing to start up in what feels like hearing damage times one hundred fucking thousand. I sob lightly as I bat at my ears to try aimlessly to get the ringing to stop. Someone moves around slightly, and I hear two loud pairs of footsteps walk out of whatever room I'm in. I feel a soft hand  rest on my cheek, then they move to my ears to put earplugs in, and then they finally place a pair of what feels like soft earmuffs over my ears. Thankfully most of the noise going through my ears dulls down slightly, but I can't say much about the ringing.

 

I start to breathe easier and my heart starts to calm down a little as I open my eyes again after unconsciously closing them in pain, and the bright light around me fades away a bit faster this time. I slowly recognize the blurry figures of both Mira and Jack hovering over me from what I now know is a couch. After a minute of silence and watching the blurry shapes of people that move past that try to look at me, I finally allow myself to speak with them.

 

"...Mira, why is my vision all...?" I groggily mutter out my question. She smiles a little, and I see that she has wiped most of the tears away, but they linger in her crystalline blue irises like ice.

 

"Your Samarin ability is finally allowed to be at its fullest potential. You will be able to dull down your senses in a while, but it takes time for your body to reconfigure, especially after..." she trails off, her expression growing a little shameful for some reason as she turns her head away. In my groggy mind I can't put two and two together, much less read her expressions in the moment, so I go on asking questions.

 

"Jack, Mira, what... what happened?" My mind is extremely fuzzy, and it feels like I just had a very long and complicated dream that I can't quite remember yet, but it's right there at the front of my mind, dancing just out of my grasp. I'm confused as to why I'm not outside anymore and instead I'm somewhere indoors, although it's a bit hard to discern _where_  exactly. I sigh and look up to Mira for answers as Jack turns his blurry grey cheek towards her, silently and coaxingly asking for her to do the explaining.

 

Mira closes her eyes and sighs for a second before brushing my hair back a little out of my face. It's a bit stringy and feels thick- stuck together underneath her fingertips- but she doesn't seem to mind. I deftly wonder why it's like that, but let the thought drift off in my consciousness as she starts to talk. "I woke up on the waterfall before you as planned and waited for you. It got to be long after sunset, and I panicked." She grits her teeth lightly, then continues. "I... I carried you down the waterfall because your body was refusing to revive you, and you were aslo not healing. So... I called your friends. Jack and everyone else took us to the tall being's- Slenderman's- mansion to give you better medical treatment to aid you in coming back. They teleported us here. But... we didn't even know if you were going to be able to come back at all. I'm so sorry, (Y/n), I should never have pulled you down, I should never have-"

 

"No, if I hadn't I wouldn't have seen Lilly." My voice is raspy and cold now that I hear it completely. I realize it didn't hurt me because I'm incapable of speaking very loud at all, and I could understand myself because my speaking area of my brain is different than my interpreting part of my brain- info courtesy of my brief interest in Psych back in high school. The earmuffs also do enough to stop every bit of noise in the room except for the breathing and heartbeat of the others, which helps me focus a little, but my mind keeps going off track with its thinking. I keep talking anyway, woozily trying to remember everything and relay it to them. "I got there, and I was already in the darkness from what I understand. Lilly, or a fragment of her... was there. It made building my safe room take longer for my guardian or whatever, and the overall process must have taken longer too, but there was really no way to come back besides to wait."

 

"Lilly... you mean your little sister? I thought she was still alive."

 

I suck in a breath as all of the information comes flooding back to me all at once as I hear Masky's voice murmur his question from a bit farther away. His voice triggers memories and visions of that night we met to burst through my mind like tiny fireworks, and I realize that the men who captured her could be doing even worse things to her at this moment. My mind snaps into focus. I instinctively move my hand up and hastily knock Mira's hand away as I sit up quickly. My ass barely leaves the couch to take off towards the door before someone has me pinned down on the couch again. I growl and kick and scream at them.

 

"Let me  _go_! I remember- they have her! They'll rape her, kill her, again and again.  _PLEASE,_ I  _have_ to leave  _now_!"

 

Tears flow freely down my face as visions of seeing her in my nightmare the other day come rocketing through my mind, and her voice repeats little bits of what happened to her like an echo in my mind once again. No, she must be in living hell right now, I have to save her _immediately_. I jerk to the side and successfully get whoever is on top of me to fall onto the floor, but then two others in addition to Mira add to the pressure that is on my body and keep me down.

 

In a split second, it took my mind to go from drifting to dead-set upon running over to the abandoned factory to kill every single one of those fuckers and get my poor little sister away from them. The post-traumatic stress of seeing her body broken and defiled on the same couch where we would curl up together and watch her favorite movies, or just use it as a good hide and seek spot- hiding behind the arm near the wall- hits me hard. The pain had been quelled with time, but when I saw what and who she used to be in my safe room and was reminded vividly by Masky's voice that she had been treated that way, my mind suddenly snapped into action.

 

Reddish-colored tears streak past my temple and pool near my shoulder, dampening the nape of my neck along with the beads of sweat forming from trying to fight with the people that hold me down. I can hear them speaking, but I'm too focused on my thoughts and on saving her to listen to them, and as my struggles become fruitless and my mind snaps into an even deeper state of panic and anger, I feel my pupils start to slit vertically and rapidly focus on the dust particles that cling to the fan hanging from the sloped ceiling. I know that it is getting serious as I feel them ripping and stretching my vision farther than ever before, which they haven't even done in quite some time. I finally break one of my arms free from the pressure they keep putting on me and slam it into the chest of whoever is closest to me, which I unconsciously peg to be Mira, because the majority of the pressure on my torso and shoulders leaves, and I know she is the strongest due to her Samarin abilities. A pang of regret goes through me, but the betrayal I feel for her not letting me go hits me harder.

 

Once she is out of my way, it is child's play to reach my hand back behind the arm of the couch and jerk myself out from under the hands of who I think are Jack, Masky, and Jeff, but I'm already off running before I can truly figure it out. I swing my feet around and start pounding towards the front door ahead of me. In a sense of déjà vu, I see the door ahead of me and remind myself that it would be very likely that Slenderman would try to catch me as I try to make my escape through that door. In less than a second, I make a sharp turn to run up the stairs, because the back door doesn't seem like a plausible option either. Someone hits the door behind me, their momentum a little too much for them to turn on a dime without much of a warning.

 

I growl as I hear Masky telling me to stop running just as I allow the sounds around me to pick up again so I can sense the people trying to catch me. What does  _he_  know? Yeah, he saw her lying there right beside me only a week ago, but he never knew her- never watched her grow up, never cried more than his parents when she went to her first day of school, never ran around for hours on end in the forest with her playing fantasy games that drug on for years or just simple tag games, never saw himself in her, never loved her more than he loved himself, never would have died for her- but I would have.  _Without_ question.

 

I make a sharp left turn and yank the cord to the attic, yelping in pain as the earmuffs fall off to leave only the earplugs and allow the harsh bang of the ladder hitting the floor to ring through my ears. But regardless, as soon as the metal touches the floor I'm flying up the stairs. The people behind me seem to have been confused by my change of direction to go upstairs, but now that they have figured out what I'm trying to do, they are clamoring after me much faster than before. 

 

I throw open the window in the attic as soon as I dance around all of the dust-laden boxes and forgotten trinkets on the floor and swing myself out onto the roof. I find purchase on the wing of the roof and move towards the front edge of the house, looking down just to see Slenderman teleporting inside after waiting for what I can assume to be a back up plan that failed without his knowledge until now. I grin as I watch him leave and also at the fact that this drop is only as large as the one I jumped from before when I was running away from Sage. I back up for a second to throw myself off into the darkness, and just as my foot reaches the edge of the roof and my breath stops in my lungs with exhilaration, a small but strong hand yanks me away from the edge. 

 

My body unwittingly turns to catch the eyes of Mira, which surprise me as they glow like molten gold in the dark instead of blue and are wide with terror as she breathes heavily. My body barely has time to correct its posture before I watch her slam her other hand over my face, which confuses me for only a second before she shakily whispers, "This is only for your own good."

 

And suddenly my mind shuts down around me without my consent, and I'm left drifting within the confines of my own mind once more.

 

**Time Skip**

 

A light hand brushes over the smooth, thin skin over my eyes, and my eyelashes unwittingly flutter at the touch. The faint touch brushes over a spot near my forehead, and I groggily recognize a warm washcloth gently dabbing along my skin. I try to move my body first, and confusedly find myself unable to move my arms, legs, or torso against what feel like thick bands of leather. Finally opening my eyes with an alarmed expression, I realize that my eyesight is still wider and sharper than normal, and my hearing is still fairly loud. 

 

"Oh, you're awake. Please... don't freak out. We've only strapped you down temporarily so we can explain the game plan to you. Give me just a sec."

 

I furrow my brows and scrunch my expression in angered confusion as I struggle against my thick binds and glare around the room, looking for the person who was speaking to me. I notice that I am in EJ's room, so I feel a little comforted by the familiar place, but I keep searching with uneasiness. I spot the guy I heard in the corner of my eye, now talking on his phone with what looks to be a bloodied washcloth in his hand. Blood? Was he removing blood from my face? Where would I have gotten that?

 

As soon as he gets off the phone, he turns around, and I realize that the person who was hovering over me was actually Hoodie, not Jack. His warm, honey-brown eyes are deep set with sleepiness and worry as he walks back over to me with a poorly concealed, disturbed expression on his face.

 

"The others are coming. Mira had to knock you out before you took off running again. We had to explain the situation to you."

 

I quirk my brow, staying quiet with annoyance at my uncomfortable position and the lack of trust keeping my body bound to the table in the form of leather straps. Hoodie looks conflicted as he notices the anger in my expression towards him, but continues.

 

"You just... don't understand the whole situation, okay? Don't shoot the messenger. They'll explain when they get their asses down here."

 

As soon as he finishes talking, a static noise erupts from his phone, and I hear a voice ask him to put the device on the floor. In the same moment, I hear the creaking of multiple sets of footsteps above us on the hardwood floors and hear the door to the basement open up. I watch BEN rise up out of the phone with what looks to be a wave of strung together sparks traveling across his body like electricity, but as soon as he steps out of the phone screen, the sparks travel down his other leg to go back into the phone. He gives me a halfhearted grin when he meets my eyes, and by the way he holds himself, he hasn't been sleeping recently just like Hoodie. I turn my head to look as the other four come down the stairs and through the other door at the bottom of the stairs leading into Jack's room, all of them disheveled and uneasy-looking. 

 

I grit my teeth, matching their uneasiness as I wonder what the hell is going on. I'm in the house- maybe the border has fallen again because I haven't been actively concentrating? Maybe another Samarin got in somehow? My thoughts start to get worse and worse with every passing second of silence as we all stare at each other, but none of them answer why I have been shackled down. And the silence continues on for about thirty seconds before BEN steps a bit closer to the table I'm strapped down to with an unsettled expression that twists his lips into a very unusual frown.

 

"We're sorry about this, but we couldn't have you running off again before we got to explain everything," he pauses, watching my still anxious and agitated expression before continuing. "I wasn't able to reach you because you were busy all day yesterday and you were away from your phone, so you coming here was a twist of fate in our favor. I'll be quick. The men we set up cameras around, the ones you went rushing off to kill earlier, are much more dangerous for you to handle by yourself."

 

I can't help but growl at him. "You think I don't have enough strength to take out a few humans that I should have killed a week ago? The situation has changed. They have Lilly- whatever the cost; she needs to be rescued from them. A bunch of humans would be a cinch-"

 

"But you see that's the thing; not all of them are human."

 

I pause, not even breathing for a second as I process it. " _What?_ How could  _you_  know-"

 

BEN sighs. "I've been monitoring them for you, 'cause I know you're busy. Yesterday morning, one of the lead men of the group was shot twelve times in the chest, stabbed four, sliced open 18 times, and beaten with a metal pipe for acting out of line... and he got right back up only about forty five minutes later." I skeptically watch his expression. "(Y/n), he is a Samarin; the same as you. He was dead and came back, and he also exhibits the abilities and mindset of a Samarin."

 

I grit my teeth and yank at the leather straps. "Well, _goddammit_ I can take them on just the same."

 

"No. You can't directly fight them by yourself. I watched what they are all capable of, and three of them are powerful Samarin. The other two were human, including the one you apparently killed. But these three are more than capable of jumping you and capturing you just the same as your sister seems to have been."

 

I continue to skeptically glare at him, threatened and angered because of my inability to move and the lack of trust they have in me. I'm stubborn, I know I am, but I still have doubt that those idiots would be able to shackle me to that place.

 

"He is right, (Y/n). I heard what the man you killed said to you when I was bleeding near the doorway after he stabbed me a few days ago. Did you not think it was fishy that five humans would be able to kill a whole block of people without being heard or caught?" Jack gives me a pleading expression within the group of people to my left; consisting of him, Masky, Mira, and Jeff.

 

I stand steadfast. It does make sense, but I don't have time to play out logistics with them. My sister is in danger of being tortured even more, and I can't bear to stand knowing where she is and being unable to protect her or save her. All this time, they were right there in my grasp, I walked right over where she was being held, and I didn't do anything. I never tried. But... how could I?

 

"So will you let that poor girl suffer all alone, to be killed over and over in that horrible place?" I snap, not really meaning to, but I feel like a cornered animal right now.

 

"We aren't saying that we aren't going to help her. You can go, but we are going with you. No matter what you say. We have mapped out everything while you were sleeping and planned who goes with who. This will be an operation, not a sole mission," Masky confidently states. I turn my eyes to catch his, and his expression is completely genuine, which is at least a tiny bit reassuring.

 

Before I can say anything, BEN speaks up again. "As soon as I realized that they had your sister held hostage, I scanned every camera we put in place and there is no sign of the opening. Odds are there is a key to the hidden hatch as well, so we will need to defeat and take the information from the Samarin and the other human before we can get to her. Wherever it is, I haven't seen them entering it on the cameras, but it might be in a place that seemed uninhabitable or too decrepit for them to go to, so we don't have any cameras there."

 

"We have been closely watching all of the cameras all night while we made our plans-" Hoodie starts, but I cut him off.

 

"All night? Are you  _serious_? She is wasting away in there-"

 

"(Y/n)," Masky boldly and loudly interrupts me, catching my eyes and shutting me up with a knowing yet reprimanding expression. "We worked as fast as we could and as hard as we could so that we could brief you and get ready to go ASAP. This can't be reckless, this has to be methodical, and you know it. We know you're scared for her, and I can tell how much you love her, but because you love her so much, we can't put her in even more jeopardy."

 

I furrow my brows, hanging onto his last word. "What do you mean, 'jeopardy'?"

 

Mira wedges her way to the front of the group this time with a deeply serious look on her face, one that I have never seen before. "Based on their behaviors, all three of the Samarin are purely evil, and of the worst caliber. One of the three seems to have the ability to telekinetically slice open flesh or gouge things. Another seems to have the ability to change the structure and makeup of things to be able to harden them, or even make objects shift into completely new and horrible weapons. And the leader seems to be blind, but can see everything around him for at least half a mile with his other senses and can heighten the senses of the people around them to the point that they will die."

 

"The only reason you and BEN could install the cameras was that the leader had been out of the factory- most likely making more drug deals from what I heard their operation was," Jack adds.

 

My anger has slowly faded in the past minute to be replaced with intense anxiousness. Is this what Lilly is being subjected to? Why she has died over twelve times in this past week? I automatically understand why they had to stop me from rushing in and I feel bad for it. If what those murderers are doing to her now is bad, it would get even worse if I were to be captured or if I alerted them that another Samarin was after them. Plus we would most likely lose their trail.

 

"So, do you finally want to cooperate with us and hear what the plans are?" BEN looks to be just about at his wit's end due to anxiousness and lack of sleep.

 

I finally sigh and close my eyes, letting them know that I'm calm and won't run. This will be one hell of a mission for me to go on with them, and I can't help but want to leave them at home for their safety, but I can't deny that I will definitely need their help. 

 

"Yeah. Let's get her the hell out of there as soon as possible. Together."


	46. Tactics

A/n: More information and stuff. Hopefully it isn't as convoluted as I feel like it is, but you know a lot of this information that I put in here is just so some of you who like explanations and logistics can get what exactly is happening a little better. I just like to make it as technical as necessary to make it kind of more of a palpable topic. I mean the process of being a Samarin and the things that happen with them. Ooookay I'm tired, hope you guys enjoy, and I'll see ya next week. :)

 

* * *

Last time:

"So, do you finally want to cooperate with us and hear what the plans are?" BEN looks to be just about at his wit's end due to anxiousness and lack of sleep.

 

I finally sigh and close my eyes, letting them know that I'm calm and won't run. This will be one hell of a mission for me to go on with them, and I can't help but want to leave them at home for their safety, but I can't deny that I will definitely need their help. 

 

"Yeah. Let's get her the hell out of there as soon as possible. Together."

* * *

 

 

Everyone relaxes as I finally agree on a compromise, but before anyone can say anything else, Mira is impatiently undoing the leather latches keeping me pinned to the table. I stare at her odd expression with slight confusion as she removes them until she is done, and suddenly she is yanking me up by the shoulders so I'm sitting up on the table. I rapidly blink as my vision turns blurry for a second then finally focuses once more when her fiery blue irises are at most an inch away from me. My breath hitches as she glares at me, and I wonder what the hell she is thinking for a second before her eyes abruptly snap away from my vision and I suddenly feel her face buried into my neck. Her arms lock around my frame and squeeze me to the point where I think about tapping out, but I wrap my arms around her tiny torso and breathlessly laugh instead.

 

"You frightened me, (Y/n). I truly did not want to lose a friend, and while I understand that you may not completely believe me after seeing the side of me left with true free will and immense power, I can assure you that I wholeheartedly, in this mentality, would never even think to lie to you or want to harm you. I would miss you terribly if you were to not return to this world as yourself, and I was terrified to think I lost you." Mira nuzzles even more into my neck, and I softly run my hand along her back with a sheepish but caring expression. I guess I didn't realize just how much I meant to her, and as I look around the room, the boys look a bit embarrassed and either turn their heads away just a little with wry grins on their faces or run their hands through their hair and wryly grin at me all the same, but they still share the same mentality- they're just too "macho" to run up and embrace me as tight as they can and say all of the sappy stuff that she does. I laugh a little. I don't blame them, Mira is doing the hugging for all of them I think as I try to breathe in less so my chest cavity doesn't feel like collapsing.

 

Mira pulls away and looks up at me from a little bit of a farther distance away from my face now, and she smiles one last time before her expression fades into seriousness. "Now, I need to do some tests to make sure that your enhanced abilities are correctly aligning with each other. After you come back and your mind and body reconfigures itself and imbues the Samarin energy you have collected after the time your abilities were brought forth, you will have more strength in every part of yourself so your body does not have to carry any strain. Think of this as your body catching up to your abilities and being more balanced. But this examination is imperative in the sense that the energy might be too much for a certain part of yourself to handle, which is common, so I have to see if I need to redistribute anything."

 

" _How_ -" I find that my voice is incredibly scratchy and my throat is clogged, so I take a second to cover my mouth and clear my throat before attempting to speak again. "How can you do that? Can you manipulate energy like I can?"

 

"Well... it truly is slightly complicated to explain, but I can, in a sense, manipulate the energy in respective areas of your body. These are the structural parts that make up your figure, so I can only manipulate that of which has been imbued with the energy of that type. Say your right arm was incredibly strong compared to the rest of your body due to the excess energy in the bones, skin, and muscles there. I could transfer that energy through the connected network of your body and balance it with the rest." I slowly nod my head.

 

"So what's the difference between you and me? Like, ability wise?"

 

"You can manipulate all energy, uniform or spiritual; flowing energy. The energy core that is inside every Samarin does not operate solely with the body, it acts on and with the environment around it that shares similar energy, which stays stationary or in a specific area. Due to the access we have to malleable energy and the core that connects us to all of the rest or that specific form, most of us can use our energy type, or in your case, you can manipulate it around you by making it into our own type of energy or similar to yours by using the magnetic type energy that makes up the core of all of our beings."

 

Mira looks like she is going to say something else, but BEN suddenly smacks his hands on the table next to us and makes us jump. We look at him in bewilderment as he grins like an excited child and eagerly exclaims, "So, you guys are like Jedi, right? You manipulate the force in all beings using, like, this cosmic force that binds the universe, right?"

 

"....What are these  _"Je-die"_?" Mira furrows her brows in intense confusion, and I laugh a little at her expression. She shakes it off and simply says, "The energy we use does bind the universe together, but we oftentimes do not pull from the entirety of this force as (Y/n) can. We are usually born with the energy to manipulate a certain type of force, such as that of a type of element, and we can connect to it with the inherent energy we are born with and activate at a certain point in the young years of our lives. For instance, I can manipulate the healing energy inherent in all beings who can heal their flesh, which is allowed to them through a small amount of that type of force within them. The rate of recovery can be boosted with my ability, and due to the access I have to the body and how it also regulates functions, I can order the energy to stop helping to pump the heart, or to put the brain to sleep, as I did with (Y/n)."

 

" _Sick_!" Ben exclaims as he stares at the both of us with childish curiosity until Jack yanks him back away from the table with a playful, yet reprimanding expression. "But wait, can you, like, freaking  _levitate_ shit? Like," he holds his hand out with splayed fingers and makes an odd choking noise that makes Mira lean back a bit and look at him with increasing concern.

 

"Back up a bit and let her work, will you?" Jack murmurs from nearby.

 

BEN rolls the red pupil in his dark eyes, then nods. Mira laughs a little, then turns back to me. "As soon as I am done, we will join them upstairs where we have set up all of our equipment and laid out our plan of approach to this problem." I nod at her words and watch as the rest of them glance to me one last time before making their way back upstairs with Jack guiding them along.

 

Mira gives me a soft, reassuring look, and I watch as her pupils shift to a sparkling copper, then brighten up suddenly to a brilliantly shimmering gold. She then closes her eyes and places her hands on my cheeks. I go ahead and close mine too and allow her to work. I don't feel much, but I definitely notice the energy within myself being shifted around with her expert help. My hearing dulls down a little and the strain put on my eyesight also dulls down. I feel my strength increase, then level out and dull down again, and I feel like myself again after a bit; comfortable, yet powerful. After she is done, she pulls away and we catch gazes again.

 

"I have redistributed all of your energy and brought the kinetic portion of the energy down to an average and powerful, yet manageable level for a Samarin of your stature. You will be able to pull more powerful energy back to it, but as for now it is being stored as potential energy within yourself. This is how you could go from having regular eyesight to night vision and intensely sharp vision or regular running to an extremely accelerated speed. They are there all the time, but not being used. This type of energy does not go in or out of this area naturally, and is constantly there for you to pull from. It can be drawn to different areas if you find you need more energy, but with your ability you should be able to put it back when you are done."

 

I nod, feeling a bit confused and overloaded with information yet again, but I shake it off as she hops off of the table with a grin and motions for me to follow her. As soon as I start moving again, I feel a little woozy, but I get used to it quickly. I must have been stronger in my legs and that's how I ran faster. My vision is also back to normal along with my hearing, and my pupils finally return to their normal, human-like state. I grin. I feel much better now and like I have a lot better balance than before.

 

We make our way up the stairs and back through the hallway to get to the living room, where we see all of the guys piled onto the couch or standing behind it, analyzing two computer screens and a map with four circles and a bunch of lines connecting each other. I'm surprised to see that, along with them, Slenderman is silently looking over all of the details from off to the side. He turns his head towards me and stops me with his gaze while Mira continues to walk until she is sitting on the arm of the couch near Jack.

 

Slenderman strides over to me as I continue to stare curiously at him. I feel like he has something to say, so I patiently wait until he looms over me. '... _Your control over your abilities has considerably increased, to the point where I can barely feel any emanating off of you and affecting those of which who are near you...'_ I flinch a little as I hear his voice reverberate through my mind, not expecting to hear it this way, but with my own ears as usual. It must be because I'm not affecting him as much like he says. _'...I wanted to commend you for your hard work and tenacity, but I also wanted to express my awe at your keen abilities to interpret your environment in trying situations. When I was informed you had attempted an escape off of the roof after noticing your surroundings and changing course, I was impressed. However, despite all of this, I feel very apprehensive about this mission you are about to go on. While I cannot stop you or your compatriots, I would like to offer you any aid of which I can provide in this endeavor. You remember how to contact me through this particular form of mindspeak, correct?'_

 

I nod softly, thinking,  _'_ _Yes, all I have to do is call out to you and feel for a type of presence, right?'_

 

He softly nods his head. "I will leave you to prepare, then. I apologize for stealing you away, however I wanted to inform you that I will be on standby to make an appearance if need be. I wish you the best of luck."

 

I give him a firm nod again, and he disappears from in front of me. I waste no time in making my way over to stand behind the low-backed couch and table where everyone has laid out the plans for our attack. They were monitoring cameras before I got there, and when they see that I have joined them, they quiet down. BEN, who is sitting in the very middle of everyone on the couch, moves certain things around to make sure that the map they have laid out on the table amidst the computers is clearly visible. Once he is done moving things around, he turns his head to make sure I'm paying attention, then starts to give me the lowdown.

 

"The camera feeds we have set up are on the monitors. They are rigged with night vision and are set so we can toggle them to move 180 degrees around an axis. As you can see, we have located where all of them sleep, and you can also see that every one of them are asleep. There is no lookout, and this is because the main boss can sense everything around him. I have been using tiny alarms and monitoring how much shows up on his radar, and it seems that his abilities are incredibly strong, but only when activated, or amped up like you guys do... somehow.  _ANYWAY,_  he has a weakness we can exploit. He is as alert as usual right now, which is still too alert for us Creepypastas to totally understand. If we send in a couple of Samarin, you and Mira, to save a completely evil little kid that nobody should even know they have, they will be none the wiser unless we make noise. It helps that they will probably think you are evil, and being evil means you have some whacked conversation and teamwork skills, so they will misjudge you. However, there's a catch. We are positive that the same guy, the boss man, has a key to the bunker, on top of being the only one to know where it is. Just 'cause the others like to never leave or disappear off of the cameras."

 

"This sounds more like a solo mission than I thought it was going to be, though." I wonder why all of the rest of the guys are huddled around us if Mira and I are the only ones who can really go in.

 

"But that's where you're wrong, sweetheart. You and Mira can't get to that guy unless we take the other guys out of the equation first. For concentration reasons, and safety, because they guard his sleeping area of sorts. To do that though, you need to lessen their abilities like you do, and then we will need you to give us a signal once they are powerless against us, and then one of these two will use their teleportation rations from Slender and remove them from the equation and put them into the forest where they can easily tie them up. We will leave you the main boss guy, and while he is confused, you can go ahead and kick him around a bit and get the info."

 

"Do you think you can do that? If not... we can change plans around a bit. I know when you fought with Sage you were able to do it, but this situation is a bit different, and I want you to be as safe as possible around those awful freaks." Masky places a soft, reassuring hand on my back from where he is standing beside me. I bite at my lip in nervousness and look at Mira with mild worry. She takes the initiative and speaks up.

 

"You should be able to perfectly handle your ability right now, all we need to do is get you accustomed to the specific feeling of you using it with a type of 'muscle memory', but in a spiritual sense. It should be a cinch for you to learn after the hardships I have made you endure beforehand, so the easier material becomes almost blatantly obvious and elementary. We will practice before you go. And if worse comes to worst, I am perfectly capable of rendering any party I choose immobile and unconscious from a distance of near 5 feet away. This mission will go smoothly with strict adherence to the plan and well-placed caution. Do not fret."

 

I nod, still a little nervous about being sort of the linchpin in the entire operation. I close my eyes and take a few breaths, counting to ten to calm myself down as much as possible and to envision the goal that I am trying to achieve and how important it is. My heart beats hard with fury but my head stays clear, and only then do I allow my eyes to open again. I nod my head again and stand up straight, showing everyone around me that I am ready and confident.

 

"Alright, yeah, I can do it with just a bit of practice- piece of cake. So what happens when we get Lilly? Do we all teleport out?"

 

"That's the plan unless something goes wrong. If we were to be separated and not have enough energy to teleport out or if there is no person with that ability with you, then you would have to sneak back. But that most likely won't be the case because we are connected through mindspeak."

 

"Alright. Groups?"

 

"You are with Mira; Jack, Masky, and Hoodie are together; and Jeff will be back here with me looking after cameras and shit. All of our groups are connected, so just think that you want to talk to one of us and your mind should link to us. You should feel the presence of other people in your mind as soon as you guys get ready to teleport- Slender's connected to me, and I'm assuming to (Y/n) as well."

 

I nod. We all look around at each other, seeing if there are any other questions that need to be asked, and when nobody volunteers, I speak up again. "Alright, then. What time do we leave?"

 

BEN checks his Apfel Watch and then looks at the screens again before turning around to meet my gaze once more. "They finally get to sleep around one or midnight and it's 11 right now, so you have at least an hour to do reruns and practice your ability stuff with Mira. We go once we see that they are asleep and make sure."

 

I nod and peek around him to look at the cameras. Four men are playing cards at a rotting table in the midst of a bunch of stacked mattresses by some large, rust-withered machinery. They are drinking and laughing as they shove money to the middle of the table with large grins or incredible poker faces and look pretty lively. I bank on two hours before we leave.

 

"Right, everyone should stay in this room until it's time. If you need to go take a shit, take a shit now before you're doing it out on a mission in your pants," Jeff crudely tacks on with a snarky grin. Everyone rolls their eyes except for Jack, who just holds his hand over his face in disappointed annoyance.

 

We all break off into our designated groups. Some of us head to the kitchen for a snack to keep us awake, and others just sit on the floor talking about either the mission or other random things to pass the time. Mira and I end up going outside to sit on the illuminated grass in front of the porch, where we sit across from each other with crossed legs.

 

With Mira's instruction, she walks me through the process of taking her ability away from her, and once she is done, she has me grasp onto her forearms and concentrate on finding her energy signature. It's not hard, and I reel her energy into my own body with ease. It feels like the energy is transfused with my own to amplify it almost and make it my own brand, and she notifies me when she is unable to use her abilities anymore, which is oddly quick for someone so powerful. I can already tell that she is much weaker. I feel it in the atmosphere around me somehow.

 

"Good work, how does it feel?"

 

I flex my arms as she pulls away from me, and remember the feeling of massive and familiar, but still foreign energy within me roiling around like a sort of wispy feeling. "Nice and powerful."

 

"Great-" My head whips towards her as she gasps in pain and makes a small whining noise. I search all around her in a panic before I notice that she has slammed the heel of her foot into her hand and managed to make her middle three knuckles sink into her skin and jut out at odd angles. I search her face in utter confusion for why she just broke her hand, but she seems calm. "Now go ahead and heal me. Your friends have told me you can intercept abilities and use them for yourself, so go as far away from me as you can and heal me from a distance."

 

I open my mouth in protest, doubting my ability to do that, but she glares at me. I sigh and move as fast as I can to get as far away from her as possible without going into the trees, and I focus on what she taught me. The energy surges through my body and pushes her foreign energy out towards her, leaving me quickly and invisibly reaching her seconds later, it seems. Despite the pain she is undoubtedly enduring, she beams through it at me. Once I feel that I am done, I rush back to her to see if she is okay. She continues to just smile at me for a second before giving me a thumbs up with her previously broken hand. 

 

"You did it!"

 

I grin in relief and happiness that she is okay and I that accomplished something like this so easily. But of course, there is no time for celebration, and Mira makes me sit down again and replace her energy by taking away my own type and pushing it back to her without contact this time, and makes me do it over and over by increasing distance. I get to the point where I can draw her power from behind the dense wall of evergreen trees surrounding the house. I feel on the other side that she has healed once again, so I start to make my way back so I can check the time. It should be around 1 in the morning by now, but I forgot to bring my phone with me out here- not like I need it anyway, though.

 

I yelp as I feel the back of my long-sleeved shirt get caught on one of the thick branches surrounding me. I pull a little at it to get it free, but I must have snagged it pretty good because it barely even budges from it and just shakes the tree a little. It doesn't help that I can't even see where I snagged it, so I go ahead and allow my eyes to brighten up.

 

For a second, the change blinds me. The amount of energy in my reserves is incredible and powerful, and just a little untamable for a second, but I quickly let it adjust. The green needles glimmer with dew in the soft light of the autumn moon and I notice that it's much quieter in the forest past midnight. The trees barely even sway in the wind, and the leaves are all sucked together from the melted frost and dew that coats them. 

 

It's... mildly disconcerting. 

 

I decide that I've had enough of the forest by myself for now. I breathe in an annoyed sigh and tug one more time, but this time, instead of giving or staying in one place, the tree tugs back.

 

I'm thrown back with a surprising force and my ass hits the grass like an egg on concrete would. I hiss as I feel my possibly broken tailbone start to heal instantly, and go to glare up at the branch in anger and annoyance, but realize that the branch looks a little too much like a hand than it should. I study it for a second, ignoring the calls of Mira as she impatiently waits for me to come back. I watch it suspiciously, knowing that I wasn't pulling hard enough for the branch to throw me back too far. I soon shake my head, blaming my sleep deprivation on seeing and drawing odd conclusions about random branches on random trees.

 

But then it moves.

 

I scramble back as someone leaps out from the thick mass of needles and hurls their body towards me. I barely have time to react as they find purchase around my ankle and yank my body towards them. With a growl, I kick at the person who I can barely see with all of this moving around. I find my foot catch their chin and they let go of me for a second, which gives me all the time I need to throw myself up onto my feet and catch their eyes just before I hightail it back into the trees and to the house without question.

 

And they glow like two miniature blood moons up at me; glaring at me and meeting my own eyes...

 

...which are identical to hers.

 

* * *

 

A/n: Debate meet this weekend! Yay- I mean _fuck_ my life. We just got our topics yesterday, and I have to write four speeches yet again by Saturday. Debate is like that stupid mentally abusive boyfriend that you love for the fun times you have with them and the rare times they are caring and nice, and you just can't leave them for some reason, even when they hurt you so much too.

 

Oooookay jeez.... that got really dark. ANYWAY heh heh... heh.... ummm I'm just gonna say thanks for everything guys! I really appreciate the support and hope you guys like what I write even though sometimes you have to trudge through a bit of boring strategic bullshiettt but hey, that end turned it around a lil bit tho. Le wink* Next week we get to go on a mission, so prepare thineselves. ;P


	47. Consolidation

A/n: Okay! Sorry guys, I got done with this chapter last night and just couldn't get my editing done so I was going to post as soon as I got home today, but forgot I had to go to debate club after school as well, so I just got home and was able to finish up editing. I hope that you guys aren't mad, I just ended up getting finished with the chapter last night really late with an immense headache and had a test today first period, so I didn't want to spend another hour combing back through the text for mistakes and adding in things. Sorry again guys! Hope you enjoy the long chapter though, and thanks for reading!!! :)

 

* * *

 

Last time:

 

I scramble back as someone leaps out from the thick mass of needles and hurls their body towards me. I barely have time to react as they find purchase around my ankle and yank my body towards them. With a growl, I kick at the person who I can barely see with all of this moving around. I find my foot catch their chin and they let go of me for a second, which gives me all the time I need to throw myself up onto my feet and catch their eyes just before I hightail it back into the trees and to the house without question.

 

And they glow like two miniature blood moons up at me; glaring at me and meeting my own eyes...

 

...which are identical to hers.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

I swing my arms to run faster and ignore the needles and branches smacking my body and snagging in my hair. Pure fear drives me away from those eyes; the ones I know so well; the ones that glared at me as she tried to break me down and torture me for fun.

 

The ones that belong to Sage Veretta.

 

"(Y/n), what is taking you so long? We have to go!" I hear Mira yelling from near the house. I burst through the tree line and stumble into the grass a little bit, running with the fullest intent to warn the others on who I just saw, but when I see that the whole group is out on the steps of the porch waiting impatiently, I find myself holding my tongue for a second. All of them look incredibly serious and prepared to go get this mission done.

 

"All of them are asleep for now. We need to get going as soon as possible to catch them by surprise and at their weakest. There is no time to waste, grab a gun and a knife quickly. We have to walk to the perimeter to conserve energy, so we have to get going," Jack commands as he steps off of the steps and starts heading in the direction I saw Sage and just ran from. I go to yell at him, but suddenly notice that I don't feel any sort of energy presence anywhere near us, so it makes me stop yet again. In the same moment I realize that I didn't detect any kind of energy from Sage, even when I was right next to her before, which is why I thought it was an odd looking tree branch that had snagged my shirt. As I'm trying to figure out whether or not I was hallucinating, the team moves a ways ahead of me.

 

Mira shakes my shoulder lightly and looks at me with concern, having been the only one who stayed behind because she had the things I needed. "(Y/n), what seems to be the matter? We have to get moving as quickly as possible."

 

I stare at the tree line, taking the gun and knife she had been trying to give me without taking my eyes away. I don't say anything as I start to walk, listening as hard as I can for any noise or any energy near me at all, but I can only feel three Samarin types; from Mira, Slenderman, and myself. I catch up to the back of the group with Mira confusedly trailing behind me, and once I realize that there really aren't any other Samarin near us for as far as my perception can reach, I sigh.

 

I bite at my lip, knowing that I can't just chalk this off as nothing when Sage could become a serious threat to us. As we slip into the forest, I go ahead and try to contact Slenderman. I feel for his presence and find it easily in the back of my mind, then go ahead and attempt to talk to him. " _Are you there?_ " I start.

 

A static fills my mind for a second and then I hear, " _Yes_ ," bounce through my mind. " _You only just left. What seems to be the problem_?"

 

" _Is there a way that you can tell if a Samarin or a human has entered your boundary?_ "

 

He is silent for a second. " _Yes,_ " he finally says, " _their specific energy type and amount of energy would make them stand out among others. Why do you ask_?"

 

" _Is there any way they can go under your radar?_ "

 

He stays silent for another second, adding to my uneasiness as I keep my head on a swivel and continually check for energy signatures. " _As I am right now, without my abilities being nullified or stolen, there is simply no way that could happen_. _If I were to miss them entering, I also would have many other defenses that would catch their energy signature, and when they reach their time limit, I also would know of their presence since they would be teleported out using my energy. Have you seen something?_ "

 

I take a second to look all around me and check one more time for any other energy types that are out of the ordinary from the rest and familiar to me, but I can't find anything. _"No, I simply had a question. Thank you for answering, I was only curious_."

 

 _"I was happy to oblige. Please alert me of your arrival or of any issues in the near future, but as for now I would advise you to prepare your mind for this mission._ "

 

I nod, then silently scold myself for thinking he could hear my and reply with a small, " _Sure_." I feel his presence recede into the back of my mind again, and I do as he said and try to focus. I wonder if I should have told him about what I saw, but the more I think about how I would tell him, the more pointless it seems. I only saw red eyes, and many things have red eyes and can attack people. For all I know it could have been the Rake and I just wanted to think it was her for some odd reason, but there is no way she was there. Not with the boundary set, the time backup, and David's power running at full.

 

I shake my head and divert my thoughts towards the mission, which is incredibly more important to me at the moment. I run over our plans in my mind as I keep my eyes on the ground to make sure I don’t step on anything. Once we get to the border, I’m assuming we will use the energy to teleport closer to the factory. From there, Mira and I will sneak up to the building and infiltrate it, I will steal their abilities for myself, and then we will call someone to take the main three guys away from the factory as a safeguard, then Mira and I will interrogate the boss to find the whereabouts of the hatch and if there is a type of lock on it. It eases my mind to know how much power I will hold over them, and my nervousness about the mission dwindles.

 

But then it is replaced with another type of nervousness. What will I do when I see Lilly again? What will she look like? What could they have done to her? Will I be able to get her back to normal again with both her Samarin abilities and her original personality?

 

Will the real her... the one who has endured so much torture and pain… even love me anymore? Will she even want to live with me anymore after not being there with her and not saving her even when I could have gotten revenge?

 

I find myself becoming even more bothered by it as I think of her reaction to seeing me again. Yeah, I did see a part of her when I was dead, but that part of her hasn't been enduring what these men have been doing to her from that point up until now, and for all of the trauma that she has gone through, she might be a completely different person than she was before all of this.

 

What if I've lost my sister for good?

 

I shake my head at the thought as I feel myself getting a little apprehensive towards seeing her. It doesn't matter if I've lost her or not, she is and was my sister, and a part of her is still alive, so I need to save her.

 

End of story.

 

"Okay guys, we are getting close to the mile border. Get in a group with someone who can teleport and hold onto them tightly," Jack says as he moves closer to Masky. We all group together easily, and I find myself holding onto Masky's hand. Jack turns so he can face both Mira and me as he grabs onto Masky's shoulder. " Alright, now we're going to go just past the half-mile marker and let you guys do the rest. From here it would be best only to use mindspeak, but it takes up a lot of energy for us out here to talk back, so try to use it only when necessary when talking to us. Between the two of you should be fine."

 

I nod. We go over the plan one last time, and then we finally prepare ourselves to teleport. The air sucks around Jack, Masky and I, and I can't help but notice that the transition over isn't nearly as smooth or as oddly sudden as when Slenderman does it. We touch down in the grass about a minute later and hear Hoodie and Mira appearing near us.

 

Unconsciously I further debunk Sage's presence being at the house, because now that I know what it feels like to notice someone's energy, I can feel it easily. And I can easily tell that there are three powerful Samarin less than a mile away from where we are standing. Mira and I both glare in the direction of the factory, even though the boys can't see it.

 

I feel a different presence move forward in my mind, and I look at the boys, but they seem to only be talking to each other. I patiently wait to hear what whoever-it-is has to say. " _You two should head around to the back entrance. It seems like if you make a beeline towards the factory, you will only have to go around one side to get to it, and stepping on grass will be much easier to stay quiet on anyways. Instead of, like, walking around in the forest for a bitch of a hopscotch game with leaves and sticks and stuff. Anyways, I'll tell the guy's you're going so you don't have to. Good luck, girls."_ I recognize the voice to belong to BEN, and Mira seems like she hears it too, so we wave at the guys and make sure they get the message before we leave.

 

" _I know it's a bit obvious, but stay safe, alright?_ " I hear Masky's voice suddenly rings through my mind unexpectedly, so I turn and flash him a smile, then nod and catch up to Mira who is only a few paces ahead of me, but moving fast. As we walk along, we make sure that we can't hear our feet or our breathing, so I can't really focus on much else. In no time, the factory comes into sight through the trees.

 

" _Okay, we're here,"_ I go ahead and tell both BEN and Slenderman, figuring that it will go to two separate channels or something like that. Mindspeaking is so goddamn weird.

 

" _Okay, so go around the left side and there should be a camera. The doors are actually pretty rusty, so try to see if you can crawl through one of the broken windows from the workshop section of the building. Sooooorry for not telling you until now, but I didn't think about it until I was wiggling the cameras around and fearing for everyone's lives."_

 

_"Well alright, did that go to Mira?"_

 

_"Yes, we are on the same comm channel. She's just listening right now."_

 

Mira sheepishly looks at me as if she thinks she was prying too much, but I simply grin a little. " _Oh, alright. Mira you don't have be shy,"_  I think, trying to lift the mood just a little. She blushes and turns to keep walking with slight embarrassment on her face from being caught for what she thinks was eavesdropping. I want to laugh a little at her innocence, but I hold it in.

 

" _Okay, you see me, right? I'm waving at you,"_ BEN says as we round the corner, and I see the small, almost unnoticeable camera swiveling back and forth. I wave a little. " _Alright, go about 10 feet from that and the workshop is there. (Y/n) should know the way best, Mira, so go ahead and try following her. (Y/n), do you need to go in before you start doing your extracty thingy or what?"_

 

 _"No, I'm doing it right now,"_ I think as I reach out for the massive energy sources that are only a good few meters away from me and through a wall or two. Using the energy core inside of me, I reel their abilities in one by one to the point that I know they can't use them anymore. I can tell that BEN is just staring at me through the camera on the other end as I stay still to concentrate, but I'm too busy to care. Mira feels for the energy of the last guy to pinpoint where he is exactly, and by the time I'm finally done with the third guy, I feel a bit odd. It's like four vastly different feelings are inside of me at once, as if I'm in a room full of different smells, sounds, and sights that all group together and are also slightly different, but similar in the same way. It feels almost like it's getting a little cramped.

 

I take in the last guy's energy and adjust to it by turning it into my own, and I feel a bit exhausted suddenly. I manage to keep my balance and take a break for a minute, then return back to normal. Once the spell is over, I realize that BEN had been trying to talk to me, but I wasn't really paying attention to him, which I don't know how it was happening because his voice was literally booming throughout my mind.

 

" _Are you alright? Is there something wrong? Did they wake up? No, so what's wrong? Are their abilities affecting you in some weird way or something-"_

 

_"BEN, I'm fine. Shut up for now, alright?"_

 

_"Right. Gotcha, babe. I'd shut up for you any day."_

 

I roll my eyes at the comment then take a few steps forward to test my balance. It seems fine, so I continue ahead of Mira and reach the window. I look at Mira to silently ask if she is ready, to which she nods. I pick a few stray pieces of glass still sticking in the window frame out of the way, then hoist myself through. There is a workbench directly below it, so it makes it easier to crawl through and have a place to sit on then hop off once we're through. I hold out my hands for Mira, but she practically floats through the window with how graceful she is regardless.

 

" _Alright, we're through. You can talk now."_

 

_"O-kay! All the guys are just outside the open doorway to your left, down the hallway to your right, and then in a large room that used to be the factory's main floor. Be careful, there are a lot of things you could run into and make noise, and I'd bet my life that the sense freakozoid Samarin leader has pretty good hearing even without his abilities."_

 

I nod silently at the camera I remember placing in this leading hallway, then Mira and I move on to the main room. Sure enough, the other three men are sprawled out on stained white mattresses with ragged looking blankets and coats placed over them. I cringe as I see that two of them are all the way down to their boxers and seem to have very large, very hairy beer-bellies that swell out over them. My lips curl into a disgusted snarl at the sight of them, and I have the urge to rip them to shreds, but I hold myself back. I look away from them to notice the door that BEN showed me earlier on the cameras that the boss seems to be sleeping in. It seems that opening the door without making any noise from how rusted it looks will definitely be impossible, but I put aside that thought for now and open up the communications to everyone.

 

_"Alright, Mira and I are staring at the three guys. One of you can teleport to us, right?"_

 

_"Already on it. I'm coming in through the window right behind you guys."_

 

Both Mira and I look behind us to see that Hoodie is crawling through the window as he said, and he seems to be a lot quieter than the Creepypastas gave themselves credit for, because I can barely hear anything from him even with enhanced hearing. Once he's through, he shuffles past us and uses the open channel to contact EJ and Masky.

 

_"Ready to catch him, guys? I'm sending the first one to the location."_

 

 _"Ready,"_ Jack replies. Hoodie then promptly steps forward and places a light hand on the first man. He wakes up a little just as the air starts sucking in around him, but he is gone before he can say anything. I wonder why they couldn't teleport us like that before, but my best guess is that it takes a bit more energy than just latching onto someone who is using the power. Hoodie goes through the other guys, and as soon as the last one is teleported out and tied up from the sound of it on Masky and Jack's end, we all breathe out a small sigh of relief.

 

 _"How are the prisoners over there, Jack?"_ I ask him as we all take a second to wipe the nervous sweat from our foreheads.

 

_"They are kicking around, but not too much. Got the gag cloths in alright and tied them up nicely. They seem to be pretty confused and upset trying to figure out why their abilities are refusing to work, so kudos to you, (Y/n)."_

 

 _"Thank you, thank you,"_ I bow and grin for a second, then slowly fade back into seriousness as I look back at the ominous looking door.

 

In the low light and with the help of my enhanced night vision, the door seems to have an otherworldly green glow to it, and the rust spots make it look almost like it's covered in specks of cartoonish toxic waste. I cringe at the sight a little. It seems ominous and more brightly colored than the walls around it, so it looks like there might be either a secret lab, or the eggs from one of those things in the _Alien_ movies and games behind it. I shudder at the thought and move a little closer.

 

" _I'll leave you two to handle him and go help the others. Hope you get the information quickly."_

 

I nod and watch as he winks out of sight. I then place my hand on the glowing doorknob and twist, taking a large breath as I push open the door. As expected, a harsh screeching noise fills the room from the door hinges' protest, and the man who was sleeping for one second then up on his feet in the next glares right into my eyes. I can see that his irises are glazed over with film, but he seems to know exactly where everything is regardless.

 

I take in another sharp breath.

 

This is the man who was behind the mass murder of my entire neighborhood- the man who used my family to paint a symbol to the police and used them as nothing more than objects; tearing them and my life apart for pure enjoyment and satisfaction. His crooked teeth grate together as he grins, and I can see the masses of greyish plaque on his yellowed teeth. I unwittingly snarl at his nonchalant and even playful expression.

 

"Quite brave for two little girls ta come walkin' in here like nothin'. You lost, sweetheart? You need a place to say the night? I'll be happy to tuck you into bed.... and then you'll _gladly_ repay me by letting me tuck myself into your tight little cunt."

 

I grate my own teeth together in rage. My back hunches as I get into a fighting position. "You seem to like even littler girls a lot better, you sick fuck. _Where is she_? Tell me now and I won't rip you apart here right here and right now."

 

He seems surprised for a second, then pleasantly and disgustingly amused. "Oh, _no_ , sweetheart. I don't think ya understand. I'm the one who gives orders 'round here, and I think you'd best pay me for my time before I hurt ya for insultin' me and take what I want by force."

 

I can't help but roar in laughter, and he seems completely unfazed by it. My laughter turns dark when I realize how many times he possibly has gone through a situation like this in his lifetime and ended up raping and slaughtering yet another innocent person, and that I will get to stop him from ever doing it again very soon. My tone is sharp and menacing when my words claw their way out of my throat. " _With what ability_? You're the powerless little fuck here now, so you do as _I say from now on_. So tell me what I want to know. _Simple_."

 

The man takes a step forward; his gait one of someone who damaged their hip many years ago, but hobbles along just as fast as anyone else could walk. His grin gets even wider for a second when the energy inside him tries to surge forward to reach me, then snaps back to him when he realizes it can barely go an inch away from his body since he doesn't have nearly enough. "Looking for this?" I growl as I use the energy I stole from him to lash out and grab ahold of his body, using instinct to amp up the pain receptors in his body as well as his hearing. He seems confused for a second until I open my mouth wider from my grin and step forward, taking in a large breath and letting my vocal chords split before screaming in his face at the top of my lungs. He yells in pain, hurting himself even more in the process, then he throws himself back onto his makeshift bed and writhes around in agony.

 

I feel a little sorry for Mira as I notice her covering her ears a bit with surprise and slight pain. She backs out of the room to give me space just as his screaming turns into whimpering, and I turn to grin as I notice blood pouring out of his ears. I get an idea and hold up a hand to signal that I'm taking some power for a second to Mira before extracting a little bit of her energy. She looks at me with a puzzled expression, but doesn't ask as I turn back to the man as he rises back up with a glare of pure hatred, which I meet with a menacing grin he can't see.

 

But not for long.

 

I hold my hand out and link the sense manipulating energy with Mira's healing energy, then send it towards him. I slowly watch as his eyes become considerably less glassy and his ears stop bleeding, then his hip rights itself and he immediately stands up straighter to compensate for the shift in his body frame. He looks at me incredulously and even more angrily as my expression grows more and more maniacal by the second.

 

"I'll give you one last try. Where's the girl?"

 

"What _girl_? There's only a little pig we get to fuck on occasion. I'm assuming you know she can heal up mighty fine, even after we slice the muscles in her jaw and put all our dicks in at once. And not to mention, _she comes back just a little bit tighter each and every time_. Is that the one you're talkin' about? Little Lilly?" He spits out his words towards me, and I have the urge to wash my brain of those entire phrases somehow.

 

My eye twitches and my fingernails scrape into my palms I'm gripping my fists so hard. "Fine. Have it your way," I let my Cheshire smile fade into a small soft grin, which confuses him for a second. "Do you remember the message you wrote on the wall at my house? It was the one where you cut out all the eyes, ears, and tongues of everyone in the family and raped their youngest daughter. 'Member what it said?" I coo as I walk a little closer towards him.

 

"I honestly do it so often, I wouldn't remember, sweetheart." He grins, his eyes crinkling up and his pupils shrinking to tiny dots.

 

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. You wrote, 'They saw and heard evil, so before they could speak it, we shut them up.'"

 

"So?"

 

"So... I find it fitting you be left struggling to stay alive for a bit in the same way. Except this time-" I launch myself forward and grab his shirt, pulling his face in close so he sees my pupils split only an inch away from his face, " _this time I'll be the last thing you ever hear, see, or speak to before I kill you._ "

 

I shove the man back onto his bed with a large grin that stretches a bit too far past normal and grab the cane that had been lying next to his bed, which I assume was to help him walk with his bad hip. I employ one of the abilities Mira told me the men had and feel the wooden cane stiffen and harden in my hands, then shorten itself and thin out at the top. The top then stretches out and turns silver with a slightly serrated blade. The man stares up in horror as he feels me increase his pain receptors a little more, then shudders as I slowly lower the knife towards him, then slam it into his previously damaged hip and twist it in like I would put a screw in a wall. I step on his other leg to keep him from thrashing around, as he screams and makes his ears start bleeding again, and the sound is barely loud enough to cover up the noise of the knife scraping and grating loudly against the bones of his hip. I then take it out and stand back up as I watch tears stream down his face.

 

It seems so wrong, but so right to do. This man has killed countless people, raped countless men, women, and children, tortured them mercilessly, destroyed their families- and for what? To protect a drug operation and to do it for his own enjoyment. It feels good to pay him back for all of the atrocities he is committed, and I'm itching to dig the knife into his eyes, the soft muscle of his tongue, and the cartilage of his ears as he did with my family. But... I need to see my sister first and make sure she knows she is now saved from this hell and these sick men. If she chooses to forgive me or not, she needs to be set free regardless. Immediately.

 

"I'd love more than anything to continue right now, but first... where is the girl?"

 

He says nothing at first, then growls and gnashes his teeth together in anger and resignation, tears streaming down his face from the immense pain his is facing. "...She's in a bunker we built under the floor where my men were sleeping. It's under the card table."

 

I smile at how readily he gives the answer to me and begrudgingly back away a little, making sure that Mira sees what I'm doing. I back up to her without taking my eyes off of him. "I'm going to go get her and bring her good side back, then carry her back up here. He should be incapacitated right now, but if he makes a move, you're close enough to knock him unconscious, right?"

 

"Yes, I will be prepared." I look at her out of the corner of my eye with a thankful grin, which she returns before focusing her eyes back on the man again and grabs the knife from my hands, her expression turning serious. "Before you go, return to me my original self. I want to have the power to kill this man if need be."

 

I nod and place my hand on her shoulder so it goes smoother, and I draw a tiny line in her energy to reach the core within her core of energy so that she will not be like this permanently, and the second she gets out of hand will snap her back to normal. She immediately relaxes a little once I draw it, and the expression on her face grows into a snarl.

 

"Alright, now go. I'll hold him down here."

 

I nod and move out of the room as quickly as possible. It isn't hard to find the card table, seeing as there are cards on it and we saw it before on the monitors. I flip it over without a care, and sure enough, there is a little hatch in the floor. I immediately grab the handle it has on it and jerk up, hoping that it isn't locked, and to my complete surprise it isn't.

 

Then again, they wouldn't have to lock it if two Samarin were here at almost all times of the day. The hatch slams into the concrete floor, and I wonder how they made the hatch like this for a second, but my feet are already moving down the ladder.

 

As I swing myself down, I go ahead and send a message out to everyone. " _I know where Lilly is now, everyone. If she is where the man told us, it should be smooth sailing from here. I'll be-"_

 

As soon as my body is completely submerged into the darkness of the room and completely below the hatch, I can automatically feel that something is very _very_ wrong. Not only does it smell like rotting flesh in here, but I can't hear anything, feel any energy, or _see_ anything.The mindspeak links I was connected to snap away from my ears and cut off all communication with them. And I notice in that split second that it's because my energy is rapidly fading away from me somehow, and along with my energy, the abilities I stole are rapidly separating themselves from mine and returning to their original owners.

 

Before I can fly back up the ladder, I hear Mira's piercing scream reach my ears.

 

I climb as fast as I possibly can, but I barely make it up the ladder before the face of the man with crooked teeth appears in the light just above me as he limps into my sight. The sight doesn't last long as he slams his foot down on my hand that was just outside of the hatch and he throws a trembling and whimpering Mira into the pit. Her body slams into mine and throws me off of the ladder and back onto the floor with a loud crash and I scream in pain.

 

" _How-_ " I roar up at him, but he cuts me off.

 

"The boys are talented, I'll give 'em that. That ability, the one that let you manipulate the weapon, doesn't just manipulate, it can create newly invented weapons using an idea and some leftover building material. You're a lucky little girl to test out our new invention; this room that blocks all energy from coming in, and takes the energy inside of it out. So baby girl, no matter how strong you were before, you are _powerless_ now. And there is _no one_ who can save you."

 

And with that same crooked and darkly malicious grin he had on his face before, he slams the concrete hatch again and leaves us with nothing but the darkness to suffocate us in the dead silence of the room.


	48. A/n Shitty Debate

Sooooo don't hate me but it's looking like I won't have any time to get the next chapter for HH out this week. Our State Debate competition is this weekend so I'm jam-packed with preparing and juggling homework at the same time, so I have to leave you guys on a bit of a cliffhanger this week. I'm super sorry, I really just don't have the time to get the quality chapter out that I want.

I'll see you guys next week though indefinitely! Thanks for understanding, guys. :)


	49. Debilitated

A/n: Yeah it's been a bit. FINALLY debate is over, but I'm still busy as hell because AP classes are starting to pick up speed so we can take our course exams at the end of the year and get college cred. I'm also taking the SAT and stuff pretty soon, so just bear with me as I struggle along in my little tugboat of life, trying not to get swept away by the current. Weird. Okay so I'm just super busy, no lie. But I should have a bitttttt more time. Okay. Sorry for the wait, thanks, hope you enjoy, bye.

* * *

 

**Last Time:**

 

I climb as fast as I possibly can, but I barely make it up the ladder before the face of the man with crooked teeth appears in the light just above me as he limps into my sight. The sight doesn't last long as he slams his foot down on my hand that was just outside of the hatch and he throws a trembling and whimpering Mira into the pit. Her body slams into mine and throws me off of the ladder and back onto the floor with a loud crash and I scream in pain.

 

" _How-_ " I roar up at him, but he cuts me off.

 

"The boys are talented, I'll give 'em that. That ability, the one that let you manipulate the weapon, doesn't just manipulate, it can create newly invented weapons using an idea and some leftover building material. You're a lucky little girl to test out our new invention; this room that blocks all energy from coming in, and takes the energy inside of it out. So baby girl, no matter how strong you were before, you are  _powerless_  now. And there is  _no one_  who can save you."

 

And with that same crooked and darkly malicious grin he had on his face before, he slams the concrete hatch again and leaves us with nothing but the darkness to suffocate us in the dead silence of the room.

* * *

 

 

It's dark. I can feel the weight of Mira's body pinning me to the floor as I stare dumbfoundedly up at the space where the hatch was open before- before he slammed and locked it, anyway. My hand aches terribly, and I can feel the tiny bit of energy left in my body struggling to mend the broken bones in my hand, but it is a futile effort. The spinning core in my body has slowed to a pace of about .05 rotations per minute as opposed to its normal RPM of about 30. Everything seems dull and muffled; almost as if I were stuck in that void again.

 

I growl in anger as my fear is replaced with fury. I should have realized that there might be a trap. I should have taken it easy and never turned my back. I should have held that bastard in place and made Mira check out the bunker first. It was reckless. It was  _idiotic_.

 

But can I blame myself for wanting to save my sister- to see her again in reality and make sure she wasn't gone over being rational?

 

A part of me wants to scream "YES!" and beat myself up for it, but the reigning part of me directs that anger towards the men who put us all in this mess in the first place because I realize that hindsight is always 20/20 in a situation like this. But still, it is incredibly infuriating to realize that this isn't the first time I've ended up locked up in a little room and rendered powerless. I should have known better this time, but in the heat of the moment, thinking with your head is impossible when your heart is drowning it out.

 

I roll Mira's shivering and unconscious frame off to the side with my one good hand and try not to whimper as I move my fractured fingers less than a millimeter in the process. I can imagine that as soon as the leader upstairs regained his abilities, he immediately used them to increase her senses so they brought her immense pain- so much so that she ended up blacking out. I realize that her shivers have died down a little bit, but the abused nerve endings in her system undoubtedly are still in shock and returning themselves to normal after having been brought to bursting point, hurting her even more. I stare at her, gritting my teeth in anger as I realize that I can't do anything but to wait for her to heal and wake up.

 

I instead busy myself with looking around me to try and see anything, but without having the Samarin ability to automatically adjust my vision to see better in the dark, I find that my eyes are useless right now. Even my heightened hearing and ability to sense things around me is shot. I find myself cowering against the darkness a bit, realizing that I truly have been rendered powerless in the ability sense, and it leaves me feeling exposed in a place that I want to guard myself in as much as possible.

 

The silence seems to impose on me. I can't detect a single heartbeat, much less the shaky breathing of Mira as she lies crumpled beside me. My skin tingles and the hairs on my nape raise instinctively in fear. I hug my knees slightly, trying desperately to wish away the searing pain in my hand.

 

I stare into the darkness, waiting for some sign of Lilly. I _don't_ want to call out more than I actually do, simply because I'm already frightened of what I might hear- or might not hear- and I already feel so vulnerable that I don't know what I could do to fight back anymore with this pain and my slow, merely human body.

 

But I don't have to long to hear from her.

 

I hear someone inhale a large amount of breath from the corner diagonal to mine, and my eyes snap up to look in that direction despite my inability to see. The person who sucked in the air seemingly for no reason continues to breathe heavily, then after a minute, the heavy breathing turns to soft sobbing. I listen, knowing full well that it is my sister curled into the corner across from me. My mouth opens and tears immediately well up in my eyes out of nowhere, but my words stay lodged in my throat. 

 

Maybe it would be better not to-

 

"Please... (Y/n)...."

 

My breath gets stuck in my throat. The voice is familiar, yet so different; formerly light and bright, but has since been mucked with the scratchiness that comes with despair and pain. My body moves of its own volition, and I slowly crawl across the floor towards her and away from where Mira shudders.

 

I move until I'm about five feet away from her, and only then do I stop when she pulls in a tiny, terrified breath. I open my mouth again, but this time, as the words get lodged in my throat, I push past it and continue to speak.

 

"Lilly...?"

 

My voice is so soft that I can barely hear it, but she hears it somehow anyway from what I can tell, because she starts uncontrollably sobbing in front of me. I stoop down even further and crawl towards her.

 

A small part of me screams to get away. She isn't like me. She still is affected by Amy's power and she could try to kill me again, but the more emotional part of me wins this time and tells me that I'm a fucking idiot. Lilly wouldn't be able to act or even sound compassionate if she still had it afflicting her. This is my sister, broken and bruised as she may be, and I love and cherish her all the same.

 

I shakily reach out and touch her shoulder. It is crusted with dirt, and bony from what I can feel. I can tell she is malnourished by how her skin is dry and a lot less elastic as I run my hand along the top of her shoulder. She continues to sob as she reaches out and grasps my shirt, pulling me towards her with barely any strength but a lot of struggling, and I lean into her without any complaints, tears now streaming down my cheeks as I run my hand over the side of her head.

 

Her hair is in knots and I can feel particles of concrete dust in her hair, but along with it, something makes her hair stick together in large clumps. I know it's blood even though I can't smell it as strongly as I would have been able to before, and I close my eyes against her neck. She smells musty and reeks of rotting flesh, but I sincerely don't care. My poor sister has been locked in this hell for who knows how long, and the last thing I need to worry about is how she smells. She murmurs things like, "I knew you would save me," and "thank you, sis," and "I'm sorry, I love you," over and over again, but I just softly pet her head and let her lay on me.

 

Lilly flinches as I run my hand over her ear, or where her ear should be, and I jerk my hand away in surprise as I realize that it is actually still missing. I automatically pull away a little, looking into where her eyes would be in the darkness. Lilly takes in a sharp breath as I pull away a little and grasps onto my shirt with a death grip, but I don't plan to go anywhere.

 

"...What...?" I ask, trying to find the words but not truly finding them. I have so many questions, but even more just flooded into my mind.

 

"I can't feel it much, it's okay.... I can explain," she rasps. "It doesn't heal like it should. I think it's supposed to heal my entire body; the ability my conscience tells me about when I pass out sometimes and stay asleep for a long time. But it's weird, half of it heals back, and the other half keeps bleeding most of the time, but lately only my new wounds will come back gone. I'm.... I'm stuck in this body and I can't heal properly..." Lilly pauses for a minute, then slowly starts to hiccup through tears again, I go to wipe the tears away from her cheeks, and to my horror her mangled left eye socket seems to be leaking blood instead of tears. Her crying gets a little louder as she places my hand on top of her head and leans into my chest, silently asking for me to comfort her and just listen. I softly pet her matted hair back with my rough fingertips caked with dust and half-dried blood. "I... I can't see you. I tried- I tried really hard to see you, but I couldn't- I think I hurt-" 

 

Lilly breaks off into incomprehensible sobbing, so I just hold her to me and let her calm down. After a good few minutes she resumes her sentence, but not without the same scratchy shakiness as she had before. "I... I reached out to you before and I saw you in a nightmare. It felt... no, it was real. I could feel your mind, and I wanted to see you again, to tell you where I was so you could save me or get help.... and I.... it wasn't me- but it was, and I didn't want to hurt you, but something made me- it made me!" She chokes down a few more sobs. "I got out as soon as I could, but I woke up to worse b-but... she tried to- she tried to help and she was like me- I could feel it, but she couldn't do anything. She told me what to do in the dream but I- they caught me so fast and now- I- I was alone..."

 

I latch onto her words- even more questions spiraling through my mind waiting to be answered now, but she starts talking again.

 

"She helped me get better, she taught me some things, and she tried to help me escape to see you in the dream but I- they were too strong..."

 

"Who? Who were you talking to and how?"

 

She listens and gathers her shattered and scattered thoughts to form it all together in silence for a few seconds before speaking again. "She.... after I left your mind, I accidentally found another that was close. She told me that I had an ability, and that I was part of a race of people with abilities, and she told me to be strong... I told her that I couldn't- that I couldn't escape from this place- and she walked me through how to get out. She cared for me for a while and helped me learn how to get my body back to what it was after I first blacked out for a long while, but I couldn't get back to what I was before I met these horrible people. I couldn't see, and before I could carry out what would have been a foolproof plan, I was locked down in this room. She was counting on me, caring for me in that brief time, and she was going to bring us back together no matter what. I was supposed to meet her at a specific latitude and longitude somewhere, and she taught me how I could use minds to know where places were from very far away, but before I could go anywhere, I was cut off in the middle of carrying it out. She is probably searching for me out there, trying to find a way in... but they are.... they will.... oh no- how are  _you_  here? They will-"

 

"Lilly. I will be fine, and you will be safe from now. It is okay.... please just tell me who you were talking to." I mull over the information in confusion. It sounded like Mira from what she described in the first part, but in the second part, I got lost. There was no one else here besides Mira and me that was a Samarin she could talk to, so I'm at a loss.

 

Lilly seems hesitant to change topics, but more willing to keep her mind off of what those men may do to us. "I... I think she had a pretty name, but I don't remember it. She was kind, and very playful with me in the dream, but also very warm and caring. She was patient with me and she took her time explaining what to do. She also said that she knew you, and she had loved you and me for a very long time, but couldn't show us for some reason. She was sad that our parents had died, and she genuinely wanted more than anything to bring us back together and live safely with each other... but she seemed sad when I left her- like she was... hopeless. Around that time I started to feel angry again, which had been occasionally coming and going, but it was horrible. I found myself hating you, blaming you, and wanting to hurt you for no reason. I found myself hating her for being hopeless, and hating myself for being unable to do anything. When I woke up I was still angry and I tried to escape, but they used their abilities on me because I got careless because of my anger, and they put me in here. Thankfully since then, I haven't been flooded with anger like that, but I also haven't been able to heal back when they hurt me. I couldn't reach you either, and I couldn't reach her."

 

"But who was she?"

 

"...She said she used to be our mom's best friend. I don't remember her name, though."

 

Our mom? I think for a second, wondering if someone was watching over us without interfering. And then it hits me. Sage fits the mold for the position, but her entire personality and the way she was described doesn't fit. Could it be that she wasn't being affected by Amy's power for some time? My eyes widen in shock as many thoughts zoom through my consciousness at her reply, but my head snaps to look in the direction of the hatch when I hear Mira groan.

 

Lilly backs against the wall and tries to take me with her in fear at the noise, but I gently pull her hand from me. She seems to understand by the light pat on her head from my light kiss on her hair that it is alright, but she stays huddled in the corner still as I get up to move back to Mira.

 

She jerks up from what I can hear when I get halfway towards her, and she looks around frantically for me. "(Y/n)? Where the  _hell_ are we? Shit- I'm sorry, what happened? Are you ther-"

 

"Yeah, Mira. We got stuck in some kind of bunker they made, and we can't use our abilities. I think we'll be fine, we're just going to hunker down in here until the others end up figuring out a plan-" I stop talking. I was so busy worrying about myself that I didn't realize that when the abilities escaped from my grasp, they went back to the guys they were holding captive. I grit my teeth. I hope to god that they are okay. Hopefully Slenderman realized that something was wrong fairly quickly and took immediate action. Mira looks at me with what I can assume is confusion in the dark, but I can just barely see her face with the tiny amount of light streaming through from the small cracks at the sides of the concrete hatch. It's barely anything, but at least it's something.

 

"By 'we' I'm assuming that you found your sister, right? I could probably break down the-" she hisses as she goes to stand up and groans in pain as she grabs onto her shoulder, which she realizes is a bad idea as soon as she does. It seems to be dislocated from falling on it, but at least it isn't broken. " _Great_ , I'm out of commission for the most part. What about you?"

 

"Broken hand. And yeah you're right. Lilly's crumpled into a heap over there. I've been talking to her, but I had a question."

 

"Shoot. Looks like we aren't going to be doing much else but talking for now."

 

I furrow my brow a little at her words, noticing that the blockage in the wall must have blocked Amy's ability as well, which coincides with what I'm feeling and what Lilly has described as well. I move on anyway.

 

"Do you think it is possible that when a Samarin dreams, they will return to their original mindset?"

 

She stops messing with her shoulder to look at me from what I hear from her shuffling. "It could happen, I guess. The mind could develop a separation from the ability during REM sleep, and possibly during dreams, but Samarin oftentimes don't dream- or at least my experience leads me to believe that way. Maybe we do and the ability does not allow us to remember the dreams due to a certain inability to inhibit us as we are unconscious. I haven't had it happen to me, though, or I don't remember, so I don't really know. Why?"

 

I turn back to face where Lilly was sitting without answering her question. "Sage- was her name Sage?"

 

Lilly thinks for a second, then replies. "...Yes, I think that was it. So you do know her? Did she help you?"

 

Both Mira and I look at each other. Mira seems to be a bit more confused than I am in the situation. Which is saying something. Could Sage really have wanted us to be safe in her regular mindset? Would she have loved us like Lilly said she had claimed? I know how powerful Amy's ability is, but after enduring the torture she put me through, I find it incredibly hard to believe that someone who committed so many atrocities could love me. But then again, who am I to say anything when I lived in David's safe house and even managed to find someone like Masky? 

 

I go to explain to Mira what Lilly had said, but before I can even take a breath something loud sounds in the room over my head and makes me duck instinctively as my mind compares it to an explosion. 

 

I hear yelling from over my head after I finish gasping at the searing pain in my hand from trying to raise it to put it over my head, but before I can really do anything else, the hatch to the room we are in flies open and slams to the floor above us. I scramble over to Lilly as my heart sinks in dread. I can tell that rescue hasn't come yet, but the men that we had trapped have made their way back, and the large sound we heard was them slamming open the front door.

 

I shield my sister with my body as I stand in front of her, and sure enough, I watch as one of the men I know was lying on the mattresses before us earlier climbs down the ladder, still in only his underwear. My chest constricts as I dread what he is most likely thinking of doing from the expression on his face. Nothing good comes from someone that has his eyes wide with anger and is also smirking maliciously; grating his teeth through the expression.

 

"So I hear you two are the little bitches who planned this little operation, right? I hope you know that your little boyfriends are writhing in pain back where you left us or wherever they went. Pretty dangerous bunch on their own, but they were  _nothing_ against Samarin. They were so scared, they abandoned you before they could die for you. So I'm here to show you what a real man is like. I'm not into kids like the boss is, but you two will do. You missed your chance, now that we know you are here, we are on high alert. There is no way a being can beat three Samarin, so I might as well spend my time down here fucking you ladies, because you're nothing but human right now, just. like. me."

 

"Yeah fuckin' right, you piece of shit. I bet your cock couldn't reach me even if your balls were smashed against my ass. Get a grip you chicken-shit and fuck off." Mira crosses her arms and pops out her hip. I can see a fire in her eyes in the low light that I have seen only once before; when she had me pinned up against a tree and was threatening my life. She was going to go through with it then, and she is going to kill this man now if he gets too close. Something about Mira tells me that her dainty looking figure tells nothing but lies, just like how her mouth betrays her body.

 

"Oh, and what do you think you're gonna do about it, bitch? I can assure you that if you think there's a size issue I can go ahead and shove other things up your ass instead. Would both fists fit, do you think?"

 

"Try it, you fucking pussy. The last guy that tried to touch me like this had to be scraped off of the fucking pavement and out from under my nails. Do it. I dare you." She pauses and when he doesn't make any move toward her instantly she slams her foot into the ground and yells,  _"Do it, you cowardly little cunt!"_

 

The man does little but oblige as he charges towards her while she uses the wall as a support. She seems to have relocated her shoulder, but it still is causing her immense pain, and she holds her hand against the wall to get ready. When the man gets close enough, she bolts forward under his arm, then uses her own arm to catch his throat and slams him into the wall next to her. While he is floundering for air, she digs her foot into the soft part of his protruding stomach, then grabs him by the arms and pushes forward into him a little more to break his sternum and ribs. I can hear his bones crack even over his screams, and Mira does nothing but smile at him before she redirects her interests to smashing his head against the wall with the same foot. His nose immediately shows a harsh red line across the bridge from where she broke it, and the man seems to be overwhelmed with pain to notice that he could kick out at her leg. After a minute of her ramming her heel into his face, she puts her foot back down to reveal a bloody, unidentifiable mess of his face before throwing his limp body aside with an even wider grin before throwing her splayed hair back over her shoulder.

 

She turns to face me as I stand in front of my sister, her blue eyes catching the light and giving off an ethereal and almost creepy glow that matches her grin. "The other men are probably manning the outside of the factory and don't give a shit about this guy. I'll go up first, and then I can help you up with your sister. Your hand is... broken- you said- right?" It takes a second for me to get over what her real self is like before nodding. "Great, get her up and over to the ladder, then. I'll get you both up."

 

She turns and as soon as she starts climbing up the ladder, we hear yet another noise, but this time it is loud and powerful enough to shake the ground and throw stuff over on the upper levels. We look at each other for a second in surprise as I help Lilly walk over to the ladder, who seems to be just barely hanging onto consciousness from the pain anyways and is limply leaning against me.

 

"What the fuck could that be?"

 

"You think it was the boys?"

 

"Could be, but we should be fine because they had those cameras trained on where we were, even when I was holding that man hostage up there. They'll know where we are."

 

I nod as I finish my conversation with her just as she reaches the top of the ladder and looks around to check really quick. I then have Lilly start climbing through the pain, but just until Mira can reach her, and then she hoists her out. I struggle to use my elbow and good hand to make it up as much as needed, then Mira hooks her arms under my armpits and pulls me out. I immediately sigh in relief as my energy floods back into my system and the core of my being starts turning at its regular pace again, pulling all the energy back to it and distributing it all back into their rightful places. After a second of solace when my hand heals, I remind myself why I got stuck powerless in the first place, and I go ahead and take the second to gather the energy of the Samarin around me once more, starting with the most powerful one. I then turn to where my sister is laying beside me and make sure my guard is up once more as I opt for drawing a line to her true self through her energy, but it seems to already have tiny cracks that lead to it, but get covered up or widened as the mass of energy moves.

 

Lilly is taking in heavy breaths as Mira lays her hands on her, the fire in her eyes slowly fading out to be replaced with her gentle kindness once more. With a small sigh, it leaves her entirely, and then her eyes finally brighten to a shimmering copper. The cuts and bruises on my sister's tiny frame start to automatically heal, but the major wounds to her eye and her ear do not heal at all. Mira tries after a minute, then her brows furrow into a deep-set line.

 

"What's wrong?"

 

"It's... her body is acting as if that wound is how her normal body _should_ be. It is acting like there is nothing to heal there, save for some minor abrasions encircling the area from recent trauma."

 

Lilly coughs a little, and alerts both of us that she is awake still, then she starts talking. "I t... told you. I can't heal anymore than like this... my body is stuck like this."

 

That must have been what her other self was talking to me about before. The part of her that is stuck in that void is a part the must allow her to heal herself entirely somehow, or is the part that allows her Samarin ability to remember what it was truly like before she suffered and turned into a Samarin. The missing piece must have tricked her system into thinking it should keep some of the original wounds she had as a part of what was her original body. I suck in a breath as her only green eye meets mine for the first time in real life since our family was murdered, and with aching despair I see that despite how bloodshot and bloody they look, her eyes still shine; not nearly as bright as before, but they are still not completely dulled.

 

We hear a loud creaking suddenly, and I look towards the door, fully expecting either the boss' door or the main door to open fully, but it is neither. The sound equates more to that of a tree falling, and after we hear the noise, the ground shakes beneath us again and two different male screams pierce the air around us.

 

It doesn't take but five seconds for me to figure out the source of the sound. The energy is familiar and incredibly powerful, and I know it belongs to Sage. It must have really been her when we took off earlier, but I don't know why she was at the house or followed us here, much less how.

 

"She came back!" Lilly exclaims as she sits up. I imagine she must have noticed the signature, because it would be hard _not_ to with that much energy being used.

 

I bolt upright in fear of what she might do if she gets here, then uses that room to torture us herself. With anger and fear, I lock my eyes with Mira. "Can you contact the others still?"

 

"I can try to, but I think I lost the connection- I am assuming you have also?" I nod.

 

"Try. Protect Lilly. I'll be back."

 

And with that I run towards the large double doors that make up the entrance of the factory and throw them open. The scene outside looks like a battlefield after a raging war. There are immense vines made up of what look like stretched trees that are littering the ground, and beneath the one nearest to me are two very large splotches of blood that are seeping into the grass, accompanied by a severed head and torso bathed in the same blood.

 

I reach out one last time to find Sage, hoping to find where she is as I stay incredibly aware of my surroundings. I can hear her, and I reach out to grab her ability, but she is moving too fast for me to follow her. I can hear her chasing after someone in the forest, hot on their tail but not catching them.

 

"Get back here you li'l shit I won't  _let_ you destroy them like you did the other two, however shitty they were! There're plenty of other things they are more useful for besides your little fuck fantasies ya freak! Now get _back here_  ya blind _bitch_!"

 

I watch as she chases him into the clearing surrounding the factory, and I realize that she is chasing the boss of the operation. I grate my teeth together in rage and reach out to use my ability against him. I heighten every one of his pain receptors to breaking point sensitivity and to his surprise, a large gash in his leg forms from me using his second lackey's ability, and he trips and falls in pain. This finally allows Sage to catch up to the fucker. She wastes no time in creating vines to strangle him against the earth, and then she creates more around the fleshy part of his torso and around his arms and legs. She then steps back and grins as she watches his arms and legs get pulled until they dislocate, then she mutters, "'s what you get for hurtin' my family," just before the vines thrown across his torso and neck suddenly yank themselves back into the ground and leave him in three separate pieces.

 

I immediately use my ability while she is distracted to take her own, and as soon as I do, she spots me. A look of complete horror forms on her face when she realizes that I have stolen her ability once again.

 

And for a brief second, her expression falters as Mira's has in the past; her terror and unhinged insanity that floods her expression flashes to a soft, worried expression of caring before flashing back, and I find myself utterly confused. Before she can say anything, her eyes roll back and she very suddenly crumples to the ground she stands on in a heap of tangled limbs, and only when Mira steps closer to me with Lilly on her back do I realize that she was the one that knocked her out.

 

"I deduced that you may need some assistance, so I observed from the window and took action when necessary. Your sibling seemed to have passed out from exhaustion while I was trying to establish if the connection between my mind and the Creepypastas was still fully intact. I did not have to worry however, seeing as the camera in the hallway had a mechanism that allowed speech to pass through, and I alerted your friend BEN that we were in need of some assistance now that the danger has been eradicated entirely. I would advise you to intercept her abilities to be assured that we will not be surprised again if she is accidentally roused."

 

I turn back to look at the body of Sage halfway between me and the treeline. She seems peaceful, and I remember back to the last time I saw her like that. It was just before I had stabbed her in the heart in an attempt to escape from her. I sigh as I walk over to her and stare down at her peaceful face. I feel for her energy despite having taken it already, and I decide to cut a line through Amy's energy to the natural core of her being. I'm surprised to see that, along with Mira and Lilly, there is already a tiny path there that resembles a trail of footprints dusted over in places by Amy's energy and blocking the true energy from truly flowing out by itself.

 

Maybe as I was locked up, I accidentally was intercepting Amy's ability and let her, and some rare point, have so compassion. While I never saw it directly, maybe it somehow saved me. With her not being so hell bent on using me for a minute or even two, maybe it disrupted some of her plans to kill me or hurt me or even allowed me a little more time to get away. But I don't know.

 

I draw the line in her energy anyway and sit down next to her amongst the carnage. Now all we can do is play the waiting game until the boys arrive- hopefully completely intact.


	50. Goddammit again.

And yet again I can't crank out the chapter I want for Wednesday. I thought it would be better once debate was over, but AP workload has increased tenfold right now and I've been trying to get jobs/internships and stuff too. My fault again, I'm just busy, and by busy, I mean I can't even cram in the time to do most of the things I love right now, including much writing. Bear with me guys, pleeeeeeease have mercy. But I mean, at least I'm keeping you guys posted? Oh well. I'll be back again next week. I'm already killing myself with studying rn though, but I WILL MAKE IT NEXT WEEK LORD JEESOOS. Thanks for understanding again guys, and sorry to keep throwing you off like this, I know it sucks.

 


	51. Unbreakable

A/n: Well, I warned you guys that I would still be busy with AP classes, and  _fuck_  I have been. I hope you guys are figuring it out by now, but just to make sure  _ **EVERY time I miss an update or will, I will always tell you guys about it through my activity.**_ It's better than putting more random ass author's notes as full chapters any more and hopefully more convenient?  **CHECK MY ACTIVITY, and I always check for notifications no matter how much time I have, so if you have a question or just want to tell me I'm a dumbass, then go right on ahead, I'll see it. XD**

 

Sorry for delays, I'm just never sure about where I can make enough time to finish the chapters I want to be posted. Thanks for sticking with me through my wish-washiness, though!  **And to honor Valentine's Day, I'm giving you guys a little love in this chap, ~~so please don't kill me~~. **  :)

* * *

**Last time:**

 

I turn back to look at the body of Sage halfway between me and the treeline. She seems peaceful, and I remember back to the last time I saw her like that. It was just before I had stabbed her in the heart in an attempt to escape from her. I sigh as I walk over to her and stare down at her peaceful face. I feel for her energy despite having taken it already, and I decide to cut a line through Amy's energy to the natural core of her being. I'm surprised to see that, along with Mira and Lilly, there is already a tiny path there that resembles a trail of footprints dusted over in places by Amy's energy and blocking the true energy from truly flowing out by itself.

 

Maybe as I was locked up, I accidentally was intercepting Amy's ability and let her, at some rare point, have some compassion. While I never saw it directly, maybe it somehow saved me. With her not being so hell bent on using me for a minute or even two, maybe it disrupted some of her plans to kill me or hurt me or even allowed me a little more time to get away. But I don't know.

 

I draw the line in her energy anyway and sit down next to her amongst the carnage. Now all we can do is play the waiting game until the boys arrive- hopefully completely intact.

 

* * *

 

 

The autumn breeze makes my hair brush across my back in feather-like strokes that tickle my skin, even through my shirt. I stare at the blood splotched clearing in front of me as I watch Mira try to figure out how to make sure the other Samarin can't come back to us any time soon. I'm curious as to how their abilities could mend their severed bodies and torsos, but I'm more worried about _when_ they will come back. Sage still stays silent and peaceful beside me, my eyes flitting back to her every few minutes because of my lack of trust in my own and Mira's abilities to hold her back from what she wants.

 

We've been waiting for a good 30 minutes without a word from them or between either of us. I have been watching the camera stationed outside of the factory entrance, but there seem to be no signs of activity to give away much of what is going on with the others. I sigh, unnerved by the stench of blood and the uncertainty that accompanies it. It's everywhere, mixed into a repulsive yet oddly fascinating amalgamation that I can't break down into its components of specific people. I don't know if Masky, Jack, or Hoodie made it back hurt or not, but all I can do is hope for right now.

 

Just as soon as I start nervously rolling my lip between my teeth and glancing up at the camera every ten seconds, I hear the telltale sucking noise of teleportation use stemming from a space along the trees behind me, and I whip around to catch who it is. Slenderman stands crookedly a few meters from me, obviously shaken but seemingly only in terms of remaining worry. He locks gazes with me as I stand up to face him, and only looks away to watch Mira hastily jump over a vine or two to get over to us. Once she is there, I can feel his presence enter my mind again and I wait for him to start speaking.

 

 _'I... I am terribly sorry, (Y/n). I was helping tend to some complications within the house as well as trying to make a plan to safely contain the now very apparent threat of Sage and had not realized that the ones sent to retrieve you were not in the right condition to do so at that moment.'_  I notice how his head moves to show that his gaze is following the lines of blood that had run across my hand and arm from my fingers being broken and the splatters of blood streaking across Mira's body in dark lines from beating the man that came into the basement and threatened us to death. He shakes his head slightly to ward away unnecessary worrying thoughts and returns his gaze to mine. _'Again, I deeply apologize.'_

 

"Don't worry, we've been fine here. Are the other guys okay?"

 

The worry pinches at the corner of his eyelid at the question as if he doesn't want to tell me. My expression turns grim.

 

 _'Masky... has been unconscious since his forced return to the house, and is not in critical condition, whereas Hoodie narrowly missed the danger. Jack, however....'_ he eyes Mira's worried expression and seems to be conflicted on whether or not he should have said anything again. He makes up his mind after a few seconds, and murmurs,  _'He has suffered major lacerations and gashes to his torso and arms. He has slowly been trying to mend and staunch the bleeding from them, despite being on the verge of delirium with worry. The information that you two are truly safe has not reached the house, as some camera feeds were somehow disrupted in the altercation or obliterated entirely.'_

 

I glance back up to the camera that has been hanging over the door this whole time and almost kick myself for not realizing that, not only is the blinking power light off, the zoom lens has been cracked and bent as well. Because I didn't look hard enough, I didn't really notice.

 

But even with that, more of me wants to kick myself for allowing my friends to be put in danger for my mistakes once again. And some- _fucking_ -how, it always has something to do with Sage.

 

Just before I reach the point in my anger where I can't hold my yelling and violent rage back, all three of us are alerted to a large rasping sound coming from Lilly as she suddenly bolts up into a sitting position. I feel my insides curl in on themselves as I force myself finally to look at her tiny frame in the full light of the moon. I had been refusing to look for fear of what I might see and how frantic and inconsolable I might have gotten when I saw what she has been forced to suffer through by herself. I felt like if I did, I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything besides my pure disgust and hatred for the men who did it to her, and would lose my mind to ripping apart their bodies when I should really be keeping a level head in preparation for the time when people would pick us up, or Sage would wake up. My fists clench together and my nails dig painfully into my palms, causing my nail beds to send shock waves of pain up my fingers.

 

One of her eyes is still missing, and the flesh around the wound is scabby and heavily marred with torn, decaying flesh that is colored a bloodied purple. The place where her ear was beside it has also been reduced to nothing but ripped skin and scabbed, raw pink skin. There are also scars along her wrists and ankles from what I can assume to be constrictive bindings that dug too far into her skin, and up from the dark reddish lines are patterns of green and dark purple bruises that look like they are either from handprints, or from being hit. I notice that I was right not to look before Slender got here as my heart races and my eyes instinctively split in response to the bitter taste of repressed pure lividity, repulsion, and hatred.

 

Her lungs struggle to find air as her single green eye frantically searches the area around her in terror. It takes me a moment to calm down and further repress my own feelings to notice that she is way too confused to have just been unconscious. Mira comes to the same conclusion just as I do and hurriedly moves towards Lilly to prop her up with her arms. I can see that Lilly is shaking, and I don't think that much of it is from fear, but rather from extreme pain. The scars on her skin must be nothing compared to what damage could still be inside both her mind and her insides.

 

"We need to get her some traditional medical treatment right away," Mira frantically says as Lilly takes in a few more shallow breaths before slipping into unconsciousness again. "Unless we give her normal treatment, she will continue to die day after day and be forced to wait to come back. The horrors she might see inside the darkness of her mind before she gets to her safe area could destroy her soul from the inside out if we don't do something."

 

Both Slender and I nod, and I hurriedly hoist Sage's limp body onto my back. Horror washes over my mind as I realize that Lilly had been dead that whole time, and I suddenly remember what the part of her in my safe room said when I was separated from my body. She had died so many times this past week, and from what Lilly had said, the men didn't have to do much of anything for her to keep slipping under the water again- but that doesn't mean they haven't. I worriedly stare at her limp form as Mira cradles her to her body, and I barely notice Slender's concerned stare as he realizes my despairing realization of how bad her situation really is.

 

"Do you think you can directly take us to where Jack is? I am sure he will be placated finally, knowing we are safe, and hopefully even if he is out of commission, he can help me make Lilly more comfortable and possibly allow her to stay alive for now."

 

Slenderman nods and places his long-fingered hands on our shoulders, and in less than two seconds, the area around us shifts and the dim room of the cellar snaps into our view, almost as if it was violently thrown at us. I stumble away a little from his touch, feeling dizzy from the sudden monumental shift, and surprisingly I find myself bumping into EJ.

 

He scrambles to catch his falling body on the metal operating table behind him as he stares at me in pained shock and slight anger, and after that he looks relieved for a brief second, but then his expression changes to a mix of pure, unadulterated fear and confusion as he notices the person I'm carrying. He moves faster than I have ever seen him move to get away from me and over to press himself up against the counters lining the wall with terror obviously written across his features.

 

"What- and where-"

 

"My sister is dying again, and I understand that you are injured and that you're shocked and scared, but please, I don't- I don't want her to have to go through that hell anymore, not right now-" I worriedly say as I readjust Sage's weight on my shoulders. He eyes her with every word I say as if she is a coiled snake rearing to strike, and I don't blame him. With a few breaths of silence, he finally points over to his bed without moving his gaze off of her.

 

"Put her next to Masky. And tie her there," he murmurs with an uneasy tone and a frightened look still pulling at his features. I nod and go to move, but Slender steps forward and takes her before I can take more than a step.

 

' _Tend to your sister first,'_ he softly sighs into my mind. He takes my stillness to be an "Okay" and leaves it at that.

 

I watch as Mira lowers Lilly onto the table, her tiny head rolling to the side and her thin hair splaying out near her face. I immediately reach for her hand and hold it in mine as Mira explains to Jack what she has tried and what she realizes the main problem is; which happens to be a source of internal bleeding in the abdominal area that refuses to heal and can't be altered, due to the reason being that Mira's ability can only heal or repair more natural functions, and the body is recognizing the hemorrhaging as a natural function that cannot be healed with the help of Samarin abilities, as it recognizes it as fully healed in that state. I shut my eyes tightly as I notice how hopeless Mira looks, and the matching look on Jack's.

 

Yeah, I know that if she dies again that she can come back and we can truly fix the problem if we run out of time. But what happens after is what I'm worrying about. If we always go back into the dark space as we make our ways to the safe house, then she could get stuck in the ocean surrounding the house. One of the things Lilly has always been terrified of has been the sea or any bodies of water that she can't see the bottom of or the creatures in it. Even if you come back, having to suffer through the pain of dying in the first place, going through that hell, and coming back confused is not something that I want her to go through again.

 

I clench my jaw in frustration, but jump as Jack lightly touches my shoulder. I look at him with wild eyes at first from shock, then they dull to understanding and worry as he gives me a look that tells me that it's time to step away and let him work. Mira stands just behind him, showing that she will work as an assistant and try to help him better pinpoint the issue directly. I hesitantly let go of her hand and gently lay it next to her body before making my way over to where Jack silently motions me to go.

 

Slenderman watches me walk solemnly over to face him on the other side of the bed. He is looking away when I look up, so I turn my eyes back down to look at Masky. He as a few healing cuts on his cheek and shoulder, and I can tell there are a few more areas under his clothes from the slashes made through the material. I sit down on the edge of the bed and pick his hand up, trying to drown myself in my thoughts so I don't have to hear Jack operating on my sister and how it's going, but it's hard.

 

' _I want you to know that your sister is left in very capable hands. Jack would die before any of the people he cares for could if he could help it.'_

 

 _'How do you know that?'_ I soberly think in reply as I trace a finger over a small cut on Masky's cheek, worrying but trying to distract myself.

 

_'Jack saved Masky's life prior to his arrival at the house. My abilities work fast, but not fast enough sometimes, and in that time, a Samarin with telekinetic abilities to lacerate his victims landed more than a few critical blows to Masky. Once he regained his full ability, he intended to slit his throat and pierce his vital organs, however just before the Samarin made the move, Jack stepped in front of him and took the brunt himself, just barely managing to block it. He would have died, were he not inhuman, but regardless of his injuries, he carried Masky down these steps and immediately treated him instead of himself, stating that you needed Masky more than anyone else needed him and that he would be fine.'_

 

I stare down at the sheets below my other hand, just silently listening to him.

 

_'However, if it were not for Masky's quick thinking to alert me of the danger, all three of them easily would have died. Seconds counted, and he knew that, but he warned me of the threat to your safety first, although at that point was incapable of reaching you.'_

 

I shut my eyes tightly, feeling so worried and angry about what could have happened if I had slipped up and they weren't capable partners. It would have been my fault, just like how it is my fault that Jack is cut up like that, Masky is unconscious, and my sister is lying on that table; near death for about the thirteenth time. I clench my fist against the sheets. ' _They should be worrying about their own lives before mine,'_ I angrily mutter.

 

Slenderman shakes his head and looks over my head for a second at the other two before glancing at Sage from what I can tell by how his clothes move and his breathing sounds from, but I keep my eyes shut when I feel his stare rest on me yet again. He reaches towards me and I don't flinch away, but I don't fully accept the gesture either in my annoyance with myself. My eyes snap open when I feel the warmth of his human hand on my shoulder and look up to meet his eyes finally. His expression is pained, but understanding, and he looks worriedly at me.

 

"They put your life first because you are important to them- so much so that they would risk their lives before risking you being hurt. It is not because of  _you_ that they get hurt on occasion, it is their _own_ choice to risk it. They love you, they really do, and just as you sacrifice things for them, they want to return the favor for you. I know how you feel. They cannot come back to life like you can, and you do not want to lose them, and I know it is hard, but by making them to stand idly by, you are taking the things that make them fight hard for life and the people they have away."

 

I lean slightly forward, crumpling in on myself with slight despair. He is right, I know I can't ask them to just stand by, but I want to be selfish- to be able to live knowing that the people that I care so much for are safe. I want them to let me take care of it all so they stay safe, but I also want to lean on them like they have asked me to. It's confusing and all of my feelings conflict with each other.

 

"The bonds you share with these beings that you care for are unyielding to the elements. Wherever they may be, I believe they will always come back to us somehow and in some way. Have faith in the ones who fight for you as hard as you fight for them."

 

I solemnly nod, and before he can say anything else, I hear Jack taking off his surgical gloves and setting his materials down. David looks over my shoulder, then smiles lightly at me and murmurs, "Everything will be alright," before he teleports away from the cellar. The warmth from where his hand was fades a little, but still consoles me a little and reminds me that it's not my fault- which I realize stemmed from all the way back to when I saw Lilly in my dream. My guilt and pain for losing her has traumatized me into believing that it was all on me that those men showed up that night and that they would not have been killed if I was there, and even though anybody could tell me that wasn't true, my mind was set. Now that I have seen how much is out of my control, I feel slightly better, but nothing can change a mind that quick. 

 

"(Y/n)," Mira says from behind me. I jump a little, but turn around slowly regardless and watch her features. "We stopped the internal bleeding, and I have put her in a state of unconsciousness that will last only long enough for her to recuperate and to keep her brain from swelling as well in case there seems to be any haemorrhaging that is causing unseen problems to develop and ultimately kill her before starting over when she resets back to the state she first died in. Otherwise, your sister is recovering just fine, and she should be waking up within the next few hours, however her body should be left alone to rest right now. I am going to head up to get some rest for now, but Jack says that you may remain down here with him as he watches over his other patients. I bid you a good rest of the night."

 

I nod and watch as Mira finds the stairs Jack seems to have told her about, and I can only assume that from there he has told her about a spare room she can sleep in. I sigh and look down at Masky again, then move my eyes over to Sage as she lies peacefully next to him.

 

How can someone so ruthless look so calm and even nice at any time? I catch myself thinking about David after remembering what he has done; who is the epitome of calm and nice. It's weird to think that someone like Jack could fall in love with someone I only hate, and it makes me wonder just what her other side is like, without the mind-altering effects. And even  _how_ they got to like each other like that in the first place.

 

Jack sighs from the other side of the room, then makes his way over to the bed and rounds the corner. To my surprise, he sits at the foot of the side where Sage is lying down and stares at her for a few good seconds before he finally mutters, "Well I guess I will  _not_  be sleeping tonight, then."

 

I hum in place of a small laugh only because my mood is too down to even think about laughing much. Jack smiles just a little, but it easily falls away as he looks down at Sage.

 

"Did you.... Is she... her?"

 

I nod my head as I look down at her. "She is not affected by the evil that normally influences her right now, but I can't say what she will be like."

 

"Do you think she will hate me?"

 

"She talked about you a lot when I was stuck with her, but I can't say what she really feels- only what she wants to hate. If she really loved you before she was unfairly cursed, she should still continue to love you. And if not, then you've always got  _me_  to love. Just sayin'."

 

"Uh-huh. You  _wish,_ " he softly laughs and I quirk a smile a bit, but we both return to looking at our own partners. After a long silence, he finally speaks up again. "Do you think it's weird for me to still like her?"

 

"No, I guess, but you must have really cared for each other for you to be that devoted. What was she like- you know- before she went back to being her Samarin self?"

 

He sighs and locks his fingers with her rough hand before talking again. "She was... bold and daring, but also worried about the most insignificant of things when it involved me doing the same dangerous things. She loved to be out in the sun and in the forest all the time, and cared for every plant that she saw. So much so, that one time she sat down and started crying over a tiny bunch of flowers that had been cut off from the sun due to a lack of sufficient sunlight anymore. She carefully picked out the roots and carried the half-dead flowers all the way back here, then planted them in a tiny pot on the windowsill of her room to nurture them back to health. She had said that she almost killed them by misplacing a few large limbs of a tree that she had cut off to help a dying tree. And her reason for it all was that the innocence and the purity of something should be protected and nurtured, and it can be taken away in one fell swoop, so we should keep it for as long as we can without suffocating it. When I asked her why she was nursing them back to health when she knew they would die one day, she explained that the roots would remain connected to the earth no matter the horrible weather or if the flowers died, and from the roots, a new and better batch of flowers would bloom and spread when it was time again. I eventually took up looking after the tiny flowers myself, despite how I may seem, and it became one of the symbols of what relationships meant to me, I guess. What we can lose, we cherish, and when we do lose it, sometimes it returns to us, and then we can cherish it even more while remembering what we lost before. Hopefully I can find the part of her that taught me that again. That's the person I love, not the monster this curse has turned her into again."

 

"Didn't you blame her for leaving you; hate her for betraying you until recently?"

 

"I did. You remember I did. But that was when I thought there was no hope of getting her back at all, I felt angry to be left behind. Seeing her again, I'm afraid of what she might do, but I trust your abilities to allow her to come through again."

 

I softly nod, and we both look away from each other and the two lying on the bed beside us. After silently waiting for a few more minutes for Masky to wake up, I start to feel sleep tugging on my eyelids relentlessly. Jack notices my head rolling towards my shoulder a couple of times, and moves to get up, which wakes me up enough. He walks across the room and picks up a chair in the corner of the room before bringing it back to me and sitting it next to the bed.

 

"Here. You rest while you wait and I will stay awake to keep watch," I open my mouth to protest, but the stern look he gives me tells me to shut up. I can't say that I mind much.

 

I shift myself over to the wooden chair before leaning against the bed.

 

"Comfortable?" He asks as he pulls up another chair to the other side of the bed.

 

"Very. Thanks, Jack. For everything."

 

"...No problem," he murmurs as he flashes me one more grin before I finally allow myself to drift off again.


	52. Out of Sight

A/n: Are you guys surprised that I  _actually_ updated this week? Well if you're not, I definitely am. Bringing back a bit more sappy love things because I still have the love bug thing and I actually think it might be a terminal illness because  _jeez_  this chapter kills me. But so does that horrible excuse for a pun. Please excuse me for that. I also just wanted to put some more background in for Sage and how Jack feels about what she used to be and what she is now, just so you guys get a little more context. But anyway, I really appreciate all of your support, guys, and I hope you enjoy! :D

 

* * *

Last time:

 

"She was... bold and daring, but also worried about the most insignificant of things when it involved me doing the same dangerous things. She loved to be out in the sun and in the forest all the time, and cared for every plant that she saw. So much so, that one time she sat down and started crying over a tiny bunch of flowers that had been cut off from the sun due to a lack of sufficient sunlight anymore. She carefully picked out the roots and carried the half-dead flowers all the way back here, then planted them in a tiny pot on the windowsill of her room to nurture them back to health. She had said that she almost killed them by misplacing a few large limbs of a tree that she had cut off to help a dying tree. And her reason for it all was that the innocence and the purity of something should be protected and nurtured, and it can be taken away in one fell swoop, so we should keep it for as long as we can without suffocating it. When I asked her why she was nursing them back to health when she knew they would die one day, she explained that the roots would remain connected to the earth no matter the horrible weather or if the flowers died, and from the roots, a new and better batch of flowers would bloom and spread when it was time again. I eventually took up looking after the tiny flowers myself, despite how I may seem, and it became one of the symbols of what relationships meant to me, I guess. What we can lose, we cherish, and when we do lose it, sometimes it returns to us, and then we can cherish it even more while remembering what we lost before. Hopefully I can find the part of her that taught me that again. That's the person I love, not the monster this curse has turned her into again."

 

* * *

 

Jack's POV:

 

I cross my arms and legs in my chair as I watch (Y/n)'s eyes slowly flutter shut before she turns her head away from me and nuzzles into her arms and against Masky's side to get more comfortable. In less than a minute, she falls soundly asleep to what I can assume is the sound of Masky's heartbeat near her ear.

 

A small smile tugs at my lips for a second as a memory of Sage defensively explaining that the only reason she had been cuddled up to me when I woke up one time was because she liked to hear the sound of my heartbeat among the sounds of the forest around her. I glance at her unconscious form a little nervously before choosing to revel in my memories instead of living in the present for now. 

 

I lean my head against the back of the chair and close my eyelids, remembering one of the many outings we took to the forest in order to cure our boredom, or to get away from the house when it got too loud. She would lead me through the unmarked, leaf blanketed ground of the forest to places that she always acted like she had been to millions of times before, despite how hidden and beautiful they were.

 

I cross my arms behind my head to create a makeshift pillow for myself as I remember the vision of her favorite place to take me to. It was one of the many hidden groves filled with wildflowers, sandwiched in between a few smaller hills tightly packed together near the eastern part of this valley. The trees were as densely packed as they are up near Mira's house, but Sage found no issues with squeezing in between the branches to get to the tiny clearing, where the trees loomed over the small, open patch of wildflowers.

 

Once we were there I would set up a couple of blankets and lay a few pillows out on top of them, then lay back and watch as Sage got to work making her way all the way to the top of each tree surrounding the clearing to see how the shapes of the clouds had changed while she took the time to make her way up different ones each time. I can just see the face she made once she got to the very top, and the sunshine finally blanketed her in the warmth she always reached out for. She would smile into it, then close her eyes and rest her form against the slim trunk of the tree for a few peaceful minutes before moving on.

 

Once she got tired, she would always make sure that I was asleep, or what she  _thought_  was asleep, before she would quietly descend down to ground level again and very lightly pad along the ground and over to the blankets. Once she found that she was incredibly sure that I was passed out in the shade, she would gingerly lay herself down next to my side with a pillow, and snuggle up to me as close as she could without fear of waking me up. She couldn't stand to allow herself to sound or do things that seemed too romantic to her if she had an audience, but she, by all means, loved to do it because she  _had_  someone to do those types of things and share those types of feelings with.

 

I laugh slightly as I remember laying silently on the blanket, barely feeling the time go by as I watched the sky above us until she woke up. She would clam up when I teasingly asked her why she was cuddled against me, and she would always pout and stutter, getting defensive for expressing emotion. I would humor her as she gave off excuses like: "I'm just a restless sleeper," or, "You 'ere just warm and I just, ya know, gravitated towards you unconsciously. Don't think anything of it."

 

I open my eyelids again to find myself looking at the ceiling. I slowly move my gaze down to look at Sage's sleeping form. If one thing about her has stayed the same, it has to be the way she looks when she sleeps. It's unnaturally peaceful for how horrible she can be with the abilities that turn her into a monster of herself, and more than beautiful. It's as if she believes that when she lays asleep, that she will have nothing to worry about when she wakes up- that nothing in the universe could ruin her life. She liked to pretend the same way when she was awake as well. She would act like everything was going to be fine, trying to look the most mature out of all of the rest of us if something went wrong or upset one of us, but she was ultimately the one who worried about what was going to happen more than all of the rest of us. 

 

Other times, when she was not as dead set on worrying, she always had a smile glued to her lips, and if it was not there, it was just hiding in the corner of her lips not too far away; always ready to come out when she was taunting or teasing me a little when she was feeling playful. Memories of her smiling that way at me flash through my head like lightning, up to the last smile she gave me before she turned back into what she had been before she met me.

 

There were tears in her eyes, and they glistened on her cheeks and neck where they had rolled down her face. Some part of me thinks that she held onto her true self long enough after she realized what she was turning into again just to say goodbye.

 

But maybe it's just me.

 

I lean forward and bury my face in my hands. It's all I can do besides throwing myself out of my chair and punching a wall. Every bit of my being wants to hate the people who allowed this to happen. I want to blame Amy Lazarus for casting out her abilities, I want to blame Slenderman for driving her to it, I want to blame the world for making her a Samarin, and even a small, horrible part of me wants to blame Sage still for leaving me behind and making me feel the most lost I have ever been in my life- and I woke up without eyes, grey skin, and craving a nice juicy pile of  _fucking_  entrails to eat. I want to hate her for leaving me behind before I could figure out what my feelings for her were, and  _god_  it hurt me. I could barely even bring myself to open up to (Y/n) when she first got here, and she seems like one of the easiest people to let in in itself. 

 

But despite everything that has happened and what Sage has done, I can't help but want more than anything to have her come back to me and love me like she did, and I care way too much for her to truly want to blame her for anything that happened.

 

But that craving scares me.

 

I don't want to be left in the dust again- continuing to hope for things that seem too good to be true.

 

I shove myself off of the chair and jerk back up to a standing position with a frustrated huff. My anger starts to get the best of me as I recognize just how weak I feel I am from all of this, but it proves to be a bad idea to stand up so suddenly. A shooting pain courses through my lower abdomen, and I indignantly notice that I must have opened up my still healing stitches as I spot a growing splotch of black seeping through my shirt. 

 

I try not to stomp to loud across the floor to move over to the shelves, but it proves to be difficult as I make my way to pick up a dusty liquor bottle from behind the copious amounts of wine bottles littering the shelves near my jarred organs. I immediately take a large drink from the bottle, instantly determined to wipe away a little of the pain that I am feeling in this moment from my wound, and from there I make my way back to the shelves of my work area.

 

Setting the bottle on the counter, I open up a couple of the cabinet doors in search of an extra sterile needle that I can use to patch up the gash in my side again. Once I've found one and have laid it down on the counter, I slowly raise my arms to move my hands behind my head, screwing my eyelids shut in pain all the way. I let out a soft grunt as I pull my shirt back over my head, and let out a few hard breaths as I finally lower my arms again to wad my shirt up and throw it on the counter next to me.

 

I take a little breather as I glance down at the many different profound gashes in my skin that have been stitched or wrapped tightly in large bands of gauze and bandages. Each one of them is riddled with tiny black lines from the sutures and are already turning a dark purple from blood gathering near the skin in forms of large bruises.

 

I brace my hands on the counter, allowing my head to droop down to look at the part of the surface directly below my gaze. The alcohol starts to kick in a little bit as the intense pain starts to dwindle into a soft electric humming feeling, and it is only then that my anger finally subsides. I sigh out and glance back over to the bed where both Sage and (Y/n) lay sound asleep. I gaze at them softly, then look at Sage with conflict on my mind before I turn back to the needle and start to prep it.

 

I press my lips together tightly as I think about how just as I started to get over Sage with the help of someone new in my life that I could devote myself to, she has shown back up in my room. No, (Y/n) wasn't and isn't the same as Sage, and I do not care for her like I did for Sage, but she still holds just about the same amount of importance to me as the one that I loved and trusted before she turned back. The ways I could care for (Y/n) allowed me to focus more on who I was and needed more than who _I_  needed. And even without realizing it, she was helping me cope with Sage's absence; helping me in ways when I didn't even know how to help myself.

 

But now that Sage is back, I feel like I might fall right back to where I started, but this time nobody will be able to dig me out.

 

All I want is to be able to enjoy life and actually  _be_  happy again, but there is a part of me that I want to curse with all of the rest of my being that thinks that I would be the happiest with Sage.

 

I grit my teeth and plunge the needle back into my grayish skin for the umpteenth time tonight. I try hard not to breathe as pain racks through my skin so I don't end up accidentally mishandling the needle and piercing something vital, although that is  _highly_ unlikely. Still, I do not want to have to give myself even more stitches after this.

 

Finally once I am done, I tie off the thread and lean back against the counter. The bandages pinch lightly at my skin as I move, and I take in a few deep breaths that my lungs had been craving as I worked. After about a minute of panting, I open my eyelids to look at the ceiling again. 

 

Again, I wonder whether or not Sage might still love me the way she did before as I look above me, just because it's something that means so much to me, and push myself up to sit on the counter. I cross my arms and lean my head back against the cabinets. 

 

I sardonically think to myself what it would feel like if she did end up being the way she was before, but she didn't love me anymore. I scoff at myself, my anger coming back a little more, so I take another large swig from the bottle before returning to my position again.

 

I shake my head in annoyance and close my eyes as I can't find myself wanting to think too in depth about all of the things that could go wrong, and surprisingly, even with annoyance etched into my expression and my body laying at a crooked angle, I feel myself falling soundly asleep.

 

 

(Y/n)'s POV:

 

I hum a little in response to the soft feeling of someone brushing their knuckles lightly over my cheek, then tucking my hair back behind my ear. I nuzzle my face even deeper into my arms at the sensation, really not wanting to get up as a powerful yawn escapes my lips. Masky runs his fingers through my hair a little bit longer, and just as I am on the verge of falling back asleep, he shifts and jostles me on the bed, waking me back up.

 

I raise up from my arms to look at him sleepily as he sits up and open my mouth to ask him why he is in such a hurry to get up, but he holds his finger to his lips and lightly shushes me. I'm a little taken aback, but too sleepy to really care as he points to Sage, then to both Jack and Lilly who are softly and steadily breathing, signaling that they are fast asleep, but not so much so that we can't wake them up.

 

I go to ask something again, but his look shushes me once more. In my still present, sleepy confusion, I stare at him as he points to the stairs. He moves to get up and gets a few steps away as I rub my eyes and hope that he means he is just going upstairs, but he turns back around to beckon me towards him, which causes me to want to flop down onto the bed as hard as possible so he knows I'm not leaving, but I figure that I might as well get up and wait somewhere else for Lilly or Sage to wake up so  _I'm_  not the cause of their rousing.

 

I begrudgingly push myself onto the floor, then look at Lilly, then Jack, and finally Sage again before making sure that there is no way that Sage can use her abilities. I then check to see if she is still completely unaffected by Amy's energy, which seems to be the case.

 

I turn back around expecting to see Masky still there, but he seems to have already made his way up the stairs. I hastily follow after him once I am out of earshot, and meet him at the top of the stairs where he rests his back against the wall, waiting for me.

 

I drowsily rub at my eyes and stifle a yawn before quietly asking him, "Shouldn't you be taking it easy and resting?"

 

He rolls his eyes and pushes away from the wall as he crosses his arms. " _I'm_  fine. You or Jack should have taken the bed last night instead of screwing up your spines sleeping like that."

 

"I don't know what you're talking about, you're the one that was unconscious. Jack was just running around doing his job, so he really couldn't rest even if you wanted him to."

 

"You are probably right, and on top of that, Jack probably  _insisted_  that I be put there once we got back to the house. I'm sure someone explained to you what happened after we lost communications with you, but somehow the Samarin that we captured regained their abilities and started attacking us. It got really ugly in only a couple of minutes, and I got cut up pretty bad, but not nearly as bad as Jack. He took the worst of the blows that were going to originally hit me, and would have  _killed_  me, but unfortunately when he pushed me out of the way, the others had a couple of tree branches that they had manipulated to act as metal baseball bats. So, blunt force trauma plus lack of blood equals me being unconscious no matter how much I want to keep fighting."

 

I nod lightly as I feel my eyelids start to droop and another yawn coming on. "So, why are you dragging me away from sleep this early?"

 

"I wanted to go get some breakfast and talk with you before everyone drilled you on what happened. I also want to be the first to get details, but mostly I want to make sure that you are okay.... by dragging you away from your rest. Sorry, this plan sounded a lot better in my head."

 

I laugh a little and shake my head. "No, it's alright. You deserve to know what happened, and I understand we can't talk later because I'm going to have to be interrogated," I murmur as I start to walk to the kitchen.

 

"I also wanted to get a hold of you before your sister woke back up, since you might get incredibly busy with her and we won't be able to talk soon. But just in case, I used mindspeak to ask Slender if he would tell us if she woke up, and he promised that he would immediately notify me of any updates, then immediately teleport us there."

 

"Sounds good," I yawn out, just barely stifling it. He chuckles lightly at me as we round the corner of the joining hallway that leads to the living room, and come out to see the barren living area.

 

"Wait here- I'll go grab something for us to eat."

 

I silently nod, then watch him move into the kitchen and out of sight. My eyes then wander over to the space in front of the TV. I notice that BEN's computers are still there, but they are now hidden among a new mess of energy drinks and snacks. BEN is sound asleep on the couch right next to the table, and he seems to have kicked off his blanket.

 

I'm guessing that by the time he was notified that Lilly, Mira, and I had made our way back, he was way too worn out to crawl back upstairs to his room. I smile lightly and bend to pick up his fallen blanket, which had been hanging onto him by only his right foot, then throw the soft material back over him. 

 

"Everyone must have been worried  _sick_  thinking about whether or not you and Mira were okay for so long." I turn around to spot Masky behind me, now holding onto a couple of steaming hot-pocket packages and two glasses of juice. "I know I was, and  _I_  was only awake for about two minutes after losing you."

 

I roll my lip between my teeth a little and take my glass of juice from him along with my hot-pocket package. Masky then starts moving towards the stairs, so I follow close behind him.

 

"You know I will always come back, even if I do end up dying," I murmur as I bite into my hot pocket and quickly start eating it.

 

He sighs ahead of me and shakes his head. "That's not what I'm worried about. The problem wasn't that you could die, it was the thought that I might not have been able to see you again. The mental connection with you was completely ripped out of my mind, and when the Samarin started attacking us, all I could think about was whether or not I would survive to see you again, or if you would get trapped somewhere that I couldn't find you."

 

I take a second to process his heartfelt confession, then once we reach the top of the stairs I open my mouth to reply. "I was scared about losing you too... Once Hoodie left Mira and me, we got the door to the boss' room open and he told us where Lilly was, which happened to be in the center of the room where the other men were. She was in a concrete hatch under the floor. I started to tell you guys about it, but as soon as I got under the main level, every bit of my abilities were cut off from me, and it allowed the main guy to overpower Mira. From there we both got thrown in."

 

I look around to see that he has taken me to a set of hallways I haven't really been down before. We take a right down another hallway, and then another couple of lefts, and in a few minutes we reach an open room. It's similar to the one Masky and Hoodie have, but there is one king sized bed in the middle of the room and everything else surrounds it. I notice that in the corner there is something different. There is a set of sliding glass doors that are next to a writing desk, and they lead onto a small balcony.

 

"Didn't mean to cut off our conversation back there, I was listening, but I wanted to give you some time to notice how to get back to this place. It's one of the guest rooms for when Slender's brothers come to visit. I thought you might want to see the sunrise while we talked."

 

I nod as I approach the gold-paned doors and look at the forest outside. It's odd to see the dark canopy in the early hours of the morning. All of the trees look like nothing more than black silhouettes against the dark blues and purples of the sky that start to fade into light peach colors.

 

I turn back around to see what Masky is doing, only to be surprised by his face being directly behind me. He seems to have grabbed a few pillows and blankets for us to lay with, so I go ahead and open up the door for us. I watch as he situates everything on a small lounging couch between a couple of plush chairs that have been set on the balcony and covered by waterproof, tarp-like covers. Once he is done, he slumps down into the tiny sofa and grabs the blanket before patting the space next to him. I happily oblige to sitting with him and curl up against his side, eagerly reaching for the blanket as a wave of goosebumps travel down my arms and legs.

 

We cuddle up against each other as we keep watch on the horizon, silently watching as the stars start to disappear as the pinkish hue fades in from the distance.

 

"So what was it like? What did it feel like in that bunker?"

 

I sigh and lightly grab his arm that is around my shoulder to press my cheek against his bicep. "It was cold and considerably more frightening that it would have been if it were just a normal bunker, but apparently one of the Samarin had fashioned it to be in the form of a weapon against Samarin. Using his abilities, he was able to make a place that sucked out all of the energy of a Samarin, or at least  _most_  of it. I had a broken hand and the only way to get out was through climbing a ladder, so that added onto everything, but the worst part about it was when I found my sister. It took us a bit to figure out why she woke up so suddenly and was so disoriented when she woke up, but I realize now that she had died and come back in that place. Something is wrong with her healing, so she can't fix a lot of the damage that was done to her before her body recognized its abilities. That even includes some very serious internal bleeding that seems to be killing her over and over again. But meeting her again like that was just horrible."

 

"Did they try to hurt you guys?"

 

"One  _tried_ , but Mira ended up being the one to kill him. I'd advise you to stay away from her true self- especially if she is pissed."

 

"I'll take that advice."

 

We both turn back to the sunrise just as the pink starts to turn into a very hot pink and almost orange color. I hum lightly at the warmth and the view.

 

Masky sighs, then squeezes my shoulders a little bit before he starts talking again. "It's hard to recognize in times like these that we only met a short time ago, especially when you have been through so much. I can't believe how quickly I started to like you either, seeing as how easily I shove people out of my life, but you were the exception. Seeing you on that road in the beginning, I never  _ever_  would have guessed that we would have come this far, but we have, and we have been through hell and back several times now, but we have been able to stick through it together for a really long while, no matter the circumstance. So... I was wondering something. It might be kind of a stupid question, but I think it might be a bit necessary."

 

"Okay...?"

 

"Okay. Um, I'm not super good at this but will you be-"

 

Masky stops talking mid-sentence just as the light of the sun breaches the horizon and dances along both of our figures. I confusedly stare at him for a few seconds as his face becomes distant, then pale, until finally he locks gazes with me again.

 

"What were you say-"

 

"It can wait. Slenderman just contacted me. "

 

"About what?"

 

He hesitates slightly before closing his eyes for a second, then he opens them to meet my gaze once more and says, "Sage is awake right now, and she is demanding to see you in person."

 

 


	53. Dependence

A/n: Well, I have another chapter full of love for you guys again, and I feel like it's because lately I've been just loving love. That, and my sister's long-time boyfriend called my dad today and asked for his blessing to marry her, and I just think it's so cute and sweet and just- AHHH SO FRICKING FLUFFY. But anyway, I was  _going_  to put some dialogue from Hoodie and BEN and all of them in there, but by the time I was done with all of this love shit, I was already at 3,800 words. So HEY, next chapter will be great! The reader will finally be able to be at the house again with everyone and all will be, for once, actually peaceful and normal. But for how long?????? Only I will know. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

Hope you guys enjoy, and I'll see you next week. :)

* * *

 

Last Time:

 

Masky stops talking mid-sentence just as the light of the sun breaches the horizon and dances along both of our figures. I confusedly stare at him for a few seconds as his face becomes distant, then pale, until finally he locks gazes with me again.

 

"What were you say-"

 

"It can wait. Slenderman just contacted me. "

 

"About what?"

 

He hesitates slightly before closing his eyes for a second, then he opens them to meet my gaze once more and says, "Sage is awake right now, and she is demanding to see you in person."

 

* * *

 

 

"Oh, okay...?" I confusedly search his gaze for why he seems so on edge, and because I can't find the real reason why, I automatically assume the worst and immediately check to see if I still hold Sage's ability enough to render her powerless. I search around inside of my chest for energy and find myself still utterly lost for an explanation as to why Masky seems so on edge when I find that I still have her abilities. I look up into his features, my eyes lowering in seriousness as the blanket falls down into our laps. "So what is the problem? She should be back to her old self again, so she...."

 

He clenches his jaw lightly and looks at me as if he is trying to figure out what to say. "Well," he finally and hesitantly starts, "taking away the thing that makes her evil doesn't automatically make her good, I guess..." he murmurs. Before I can get time to react or even really process it, I feel the chilly air around me shift and snap away from me as my body is transported somewhere else without Masky. I rapidly blink and hiss in pain as my ass hits the floor of what I can assume is Jack's room, but I'm too dazed to tell yet. I hold my head against my palm as I try to blink away the slight nausea and dizziness that accompanies teleporting.

 

"Please, I would like for you to calm yourself-"

 

"Get _away_  from me."

 

I gasp and snap up to my feet as I recognize both Slenderman and Sage's voices bouncing off of the concrete walls around us. Sage's voice is familiar and lethal, and it leaves me scrambling to reach out for her abilities to see if Amy's ability is still affecting her somehow, but I see that the large path that I drew to release her true self is still there.

 

I back up a few steps and feel my back hit the metal operating table as my eyes adjust to a sight that makes my heart jump into my throat. Sage cowers in the far corner of the room with one of Jack's larger scalpels shaking in her hands. Slenderman stands in the middle of the room, looking down on Sage with slight helplessness as he tries to figure out a way to get the weapon away and calm her down without using force. I stare wide-eyed at Sage as intense fear reflects in her eyes as she presses herself as far up against the wall as she physically can while still being able to stand up.

 

My breath gets caught in my throat for a second as I go to call out to her and gain her attention, and it takes a few tries to actually get my vocal chords to work before noise finally comes out. "Sage, I'm here, so please put the knife down and j-just talk to me," I try not to stutter as reminders of what she did to me the last time she was brandishing a weapon and speaking in that tone flash through my mind, but I can't help some of it.

 

Her rouge eyes snap towards me and make me try to back up a step with disconcertion despite being fully up against a table myself. I feel nervous until I notice that she is genuinely afraid and trembling, her expression silently showing that she is pleading for help, but also silently screaming for everyone to get away from her- like a cornered animal.

 

"Talk?  _Talk?_  You s-stole it from me a-and I-" she takes a firmer hold on the scalpel, but still seems unsure of what she wants to do. I hope that she doesn't plan on charging at me.

 

"Sage, please, don't do anything that would jeopardize your life. No rash decisions," Jack shakily says as he holds up his hands in defense near me, and I only just now notice that he has been standing by the table on the other side this whole time. Sage's gaze shifts immediately to him before darkening.

 

"You-  _you_ \- I don't want ta hear anything from you. J-Just-  _just go away,_ " she almost whispers her words as even more shudders rack through her body as she finds herself unable to look at him. Her tone is menacing, but the way her expression twists into sorrow says otherwise. "I-I just wan' it  _back_ , and then ya can drop me off wherever- out in a forest somewhere-  _away_ from 'ere.  _Please_."

 

Jack looks heartbroken as he gazes at her. He looks like he is fighting with himself on whether or not he should run to her and comfort her or stay put. He eventually decides after taking a breath and closing his eyes to try and help by trying to get closer and calm her down. "Sage-" he starts to say as he takes a step forward, but she viciously cuts him off before he can barely take a step.

 

" _Don't_  come  _any_  closer ta me," she shakily threatens as her voice cracks, and she holds the knife higher and out in front of her more, pointing it towards him. Her arms quiver as if the scalpel weighs 200 pounds. My eyes widen further as she blinks away a few tears, only to accidentally send one down her cheek. A hiss escapes her lips in the same moment as she realizes she has let her true emotions show. She turns back to me and jabs the weapon towards me again. "I  _just_ want my abilities back- just the abilities- and then I'll leave you alone forever, just let me  _go_."

 

"Why...?" I ask it before I can even think to stop myself. Her eyes glint dangerously.

 

"You will  _never_ know what it was like ta return ta being that way, ta be stuck inside of a mind that wanted ta hurt  _everything_  that I recently learned to care for. I lost all of it-  _all_  of it- and there was nothing for me ta do besides rely on my ability to make me strong. I had wanted nothing more than ta live a normal life," she glances at Jack as if she means to say "with him" but refrains and continues her sentence by saying, "but I realize now that I only felt that way because I relied too much on those things to make me happy, and they hurt me in the end. All I need... all I need is my abilities and that's it. I'll be gone as soon as you give them back and then I'll be out of your hair forever. I know when I'm beaten. I swear on my life."

 

"But there's another chance, you can live with me again for as long as you want-"

 

"There is  _no chance_  that I am willing to take with you in my life, _Jack_ ," she growls. She presses herself further into the wall, and I just barely catch the glint of tears still beading up in her eyes from the situation she is in, and especially at the words she just uttered. They were cold, but I can tell that she is just trying to force him away to make it easier for them to part ways. "I'm not going to get hurt from this again, because no matter what you say it  _can_ and  _will_  happen agai-"

 

"No, it will _not_  with (Y/n) here-" Jack goes to yell but is cut off again.

 

"DON'T you _GET_ IT?!" She screeches, the tears she was holding back now falling freely down her face as she shakes her head at him. "I had a  _chance_  before, but it was  _fake_! I will  _always be stuck this way_. No matter what."

 

"What the  _fuck_  do you mean? What way-" he starts to ask again.

 

"A FUCKING  _MONSTER_! I will  _ALWAYS_  be doomed to hurt you, her, your friends, my own family, and myself  _over and over_  again because I am BIOLOGICALLY CURSED TO BE ONE! _Why can't- why..._  can't... can't you see..." Sage crumples to the floor in a heap and is immediately overtaken by heart-shuddering sobs that echo around the room.

 

I can see from out of the corner of my eye that Jack looks devastated and lost, but also incredibly guilty as he takes a step back from her when he realizes that for the majority of the time after she left, he  _blamed_  her for being a monster when it was out of her control. He sees her suffering, and in his eyes I can see so much conflict over what to do to comfort her, to help her, to possibly make her happy again, but he has no idea where to start- or even if he deserves to comfort her.

 

Sage opens her mouth just slightly after the most of her sobs have passed through and she is just freely crying now to mutter, "I would rather be alone and protected than be here to love you and put you in danger, and while I want- I so desperately want- to take the risk of getting hurt again for you, I can't take the risk of actually losing you this time. I just can't.  _I just can't...._ " she softly cries into her knees as she further curls into the corner and cries. Slenderman and I lock gazes with each other briefly, trying to figure out what we should do as the two feel so much despair for each other. 

 

My heart hurts as I watch one of my best friends grasp the fabric of his shirt over his heart and look so hopelessly and utterly powerless as black, tar-ish tears trickle over his cheeks while he stares at Sage's crumpled and helpless form. He opens his mouth to say something to her a couple of times, but his words fall flat as he realizes that he truly has no idea what he wants to say- he just wants to say  _something_  to make her feel better.

 

I take a breath and take one step towards her, then another, until finally, I am standing three feet in front of her shuddering body. I bend down and carefully take the scalpel away from her loose fingers, and she lets me have it with little struggle. After I throw it over to Jack, I sit down in front of her and cross my legs. Of course, I'm nervous as hell, but I'm ready to fight against her if she does anything, and she knows that. I take another deep breath to collect myself before talking again.

 

"Why do you want to leave?" I try to ask in as soft and calm of a voice as I can muster.

 

She sniffles in front of me for a second before she speaks through her knees. "I... I'll hurt everyone here. I know that I'll eventually regain that horrible way of thinking and get out of control again, and this time I really might end up killing Jack. I don't want that to happen," she whispers to me.

 

"Why do you need your abilities? You seem to be very reliant on them."

 

She takes in a sharp breath and wipes away a couple of tears that fall from her closed eyes with her sleeve. "I... if I don't have them I'm powerless- unprotected. If I can't have people to rely on, I'll rely only on my abilities. _They_ won't leave me unless I'm near _you_."

 

"So why can't you rely on your abilities while  _also_  relying on the people around you?"

 

"I... I just... I know I'll hurt them... and they make me weaker anyway. It's better to live without people to tie you down and to worry about because, when they leave, all it does is torture you. And with  _him_ , I'm even  _weaker_. With my abilities, I don't have to think about losing people I do or don't care about."

 

"So you think that when I return your own abilities, your evil side will take over?" I wait for a response, but her silence is a good enough answer of "Yes". "What about being both good  _and_ bad? Don't you want to still have free will?"

 

"If free will means being that weak again, I don't care anymore."

 

I sit back for a second to think about what she has said, and I study her features as I do. She seems to be scared of not having the ability to choose things herself but is even more terrified of getting hurt by those choices. She wants just one side so she doesn't have to make the hard choices anymore. From here I can see that she is at the end of her rope after so much loss and torture she has endured through being forced to be evil, and now she is thinking it might even be better to stay like that so she doesn't let anybody in that she can lose again. 

 

But she would be giving up all of her freedom just to be safe from emotional pain.

 

"I think... you can't be fully protected if you don't have a balance between good and evil within you. Yes, you may not feel the brunt of what you have done while you are afflicted by the energy turning you evil, but if you turn back, you will feel every sin- every wrong thing that you have done tenfold. Just like you are now." I take a second to look at her, then continue. "I'm... assuming from what you have said... that when you turned back you almost killed Jack. The way you have acted with him and treated him along with what you have said says the same thing too." She curtly nods at my statement. "You think, that it is because you are biologically a monster at heart that you will only end up hurting those around you?" She hesitates but still nods again. "I already know that biologically you are not a monster. The way Jack describes how you were is nothing that a monster would be described as. On top of that, the thing that makes you evil is not even an inherent part of you- it is a leftover Samarin ability that controls your mind into purely hating or purely loving everything, which was initially a mistake of a dying girl that could not be erased... until now. You are you, and that person you are when afflicted by that energy... is only an infinitesimally small fraction of who you really are."

 

She buries her head in her knees a little more, but I keep talking.

 

"You need your true self, the mix of good and evil, in order to truly live and learn from your mistakes and successes- otherwise you are just drifting by and not living. Think of it this way with an analogy- through autumn, when a flower is at its lowest point in the year, its petals and leaves will fall and decay as it finds itself withering down to the bare minimum: a tiny, malnourished stem that shivers through the winter, with only the company of the horrible and unfortunate truths of life, the evil of life, laying at its roots in crumbling, sad heaps above the soil. But when spring comes again, the once horrible things at its base will merge with the soil, cultivating it naturally in such a way, that it can grow anew and live an even better life than it did before in an even more beautiful light. Without the bad mixed with the good, we would never grow past what we already are, just as if you have only all bad, we will wither and die without ever having lived  _real_  lives. YES, people might get hurt around you, but now you can do something to prevent them hurting for a long time, you can stay with them and lean on them."

 

"Just because you make a stupid analogy doesn't mean that it applies to  _me_. And even if you can take that pure evil aspect away, I will still be a monster at heart," she lashes out as she tries desperately not to listen to what I am saying because she knows that I am right, but she does not want to be wrong.

 

"Sage, you  _know_ that's not true," Jack interjects from behind me. He has made his way over to us while Slenderman just watches silently from a far corner. "You never hurt me once while you were your real self-  _ever_. The only thing that hurt me was when you left and didn't come back- and that wasn't your choice then. If you leave again, I will be left so lost again, just like I was before when you left. You  _know_  that I don't know what to do without you, and it's been hard not having you here. The only way you could ever get me to stop caring for you is if you killed me, and if you hurt me,  _fuck_ , Sage, I'll heal. I would rather have you here, whether you hurt me or not. You don't have to worry about me getting hurt, I am pretty tough anyway. I... I love you too much to bear losing you again, and I know that it's selfish and horrible, but it's true."

 

I watch as Sage slowly raises her head from her knees to look at Jack, and I can see in her eyes that she  _knows-_ somewhere in her- that we are right. I glance at Jack, and deduce that it is a good idea to get out of the way for him, so I get up and move back a few steps as Sage's eyes stay locked on with his. "I..." she starts, but more tears start rolling down her cheeks. I watch as Jack stoops down next to her and gently wipes away the tears from her cheeks with worry. "I... I feel the same way too. I just- I just didn't want to be selfish like I am when I'm... when-" Jack pulls her against him as she sobs, realizing finally, that it wasn't her fault for leaving and being ripped away from him, it wasn't her, and now that the thing that did that to her has been taken out of the equation, she only has to worry about staying and risking getting hurt or hurting the people she loves, and now that she knows Jack understands the risk and is taking it, it looks like she is willing to take it too.

 

I smile lightly as I back up a bit more to join Slenderman in the corner.

 

"Well, this is quite touching," he murmurs.

 

"Quite. Although I couldn't help but feel a bit of deja vu in the middle of him talking to her for some reason."

 

"I am going to assume that any very heartfelt and lengthy epiphany that Masky has ever voiced to you has stemmed from the thought process of Jack. He is quite the professional when it comes to relationship problems in this house, for some particularly odd reason."

 

"Maybe it's because he's a love doctor."

 

"..." 

 

Slender looks at me with what I can assume is a raised eyebrow, then rolls his head slightly as if he is mocking the motion of rolling his eyes and sighs. He then lays one of the black tendrils stemming from his back on my shoulder. I look at him in light surprise.

 

"I believe it to be best that we remove ourselves from this situation and leave them to themselves."

 

I glance back over towards them as Sage hesitantly wraps her arms around Jack, then sags into him as if she has been waiting to do it for years upon years, and has finally relaxed for the first time since she left. I blush lightly and start to feel slightly squeamish at the incredibly romantic sight, just because Jack is a good friend of mine. Although love is great, and I'm super happy for him, I think I can pass on knowing about their physical romantic ventures right now.

 

I hastily nod as I avert my eyes back to Slender's patiently waiting gaze. I can hear a deep hum of a static-like chuckle rumble through his chest just before I feel the air sucking against my skin yet again. It doesn't pinch or throw me like the past few times has, but it gently pulls at my skin, then lightly transports us both into the living room. When my eyes adjust to the change in scenery, which goes much smoother this time, I find myself looking forward at BEN, Hoodie, Masky, and Jeff's sleeping forms as they all lie under a blanket and curl into the couch cushions.

 

"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, I will be preparing breakfast in approximately an hour or two."

 

I let my shoulders slump a little at his sentence and nod my head, the sleepiness that had plagued me earlier in the morning returning to me as if I just woke up. Slender's tentacle-like appendage leaves my shoulder as he teleports away again, already understanding my gratefulness, and I find myself starting to relax my whole body already as I spot a small opening on the left side of the couch between Masky and Hoodie that I'm really tempted to crawl into.

 

I make my way over and assess the situation for a second, before lifting the blanket on Hoodie's side and crawling under quick enough so he doesn't notice the lack of warmth over his body. I then snuggle into the small space between him and Masky and lean into Masky's shoulder for a pillow. Once I get completely comfortable, both Hoodie and Masky shift so that Hoodie's head falls onto the nape of my neck and Masky's rests softly against my hair.

 

From there, their soft breathing and the warmth they put out lulls me half-asleep where I sleepily think about how sweet it was to see the reunification of Sage and Jack finally and how cute they oddly seem together. Just before I fall asleep, I make a plan to figure out what the true feelings and behaviors of Sage really are now that she is back to normal, and hope that we might be able to start over again, possibly and hopefully as friends.


	54. Yeah, yeah. Another Stupid A/N.

I didn't and still don't have much time to write this week. I'm taking the SAT on Saturday and I've just found out that I'm going to be taking a test on Friday and two tests on Monday as well. I hope you guys will understand that I need to put my studying first, as I am in my Junior year and that is one of the most crucial times where you can't let your grades slip. Sorry for the frequent missed updates for each week, but guys, I'm just super busy. Hope you guys will forgive me again- and I'll see you guys next week. 


	55. Eclipsed

A/n: Yay! The SAT is finally over and I'm going on Spring Break starting this Friday. Hopefully with the extra time, I will be able to get my shit together a little more and plan out everything from here to the end, because holy effin' shit this is long. But then again, I really might end up splitting this up right where Slenderman kicked the reader out after she came back from Liechtenstein but idk. Depends on how much it clocks out to be. Aaaanyway, sorry for my inability recently to keep posting chapters every week, you guys know how many busy excuses I've made, and I apologize, but you guys know how much effort goes into this shit- so I think you would rather have chapters that actually are good but a little late instead of ones that are "eh" and are on time. Even though there are a few sections of those scattered about, haha. So here's to having a little more time! And I hope you enjoy the new chapter. :)

* * *

 

Last time:

I make my way over and assess the situation for a second, before lifting the blanket on Hoodie's side and crawling under quick enough so he doesn't notice the lack of warmth over his body. I then snuggle into the small space between him and Masky and lean into Masky's shoulder for a pillow. Once I get completely comfortable, both Hoodie and Masky shift so that Hoodie's head falls onto the nape of my neck and Masky's rests softly against my hair.

 

From there, their soft breathing and the warmth they put out lulls me half-asleep where I sleepily think about how sweet it was to see the reunification of Sage and Jack finally and how cute they oddly seem together. Just before I fall asleep, I make a plan to figure out what the true feelings and behaviors of Sage really are now that she is back to normal, and hope that we might be able to start over again, possibly and hopefully as friends.

 

* * *

 

 

By the time someone wakes me up, my legs have somehow migrated over Hoodie's lap, his arms are around my waist, Masky's arms are around the middle of my torso, and the back of my head is resting just under his chin as he lays against BEN's back. Even BEN and Jeff turned towards each other for warmth sometime while we were asleep- when the blanket lacked the sufficient warmth we needed due to the temperature in the room going down. It's more the fault of people heading out to hunt opening and closing the door so much and the lack of vents in the room, but  _I'm_  not complaining.

 

Not many people have been moving around downstairs at this time in the morning from what I can tell, but  _enough_ have gone by with tired eyes and lingering eyes gazing upon the amalgamation of sleeping people crammed onto the couch for me to feel just a little uncomfortable. I sigh with a little embarrassment, but wave it off and begrudgingly blink away the rest of my sleepiness as I feel well-rested enough to get back up. I know that if I try to fall asleep again, I will wake up even groggier and be even slower than I am now, so I get over it when I yawn again. I choose to stare up at the ceiling and think about what has happened this past week to keep my timeline in check.

 

It began with me picking up Masky on the way home. From there, after I found my family massacred, we made it here and hung out for a day or two until I took up the mission to go rescue the trapped CP's in Liechtenstein. By then, everyone here was on edge due to the power deficiency, and people were paranoid about being attacked while nearly defenseless. 

 

I feel a sharp pang of guilt as I can't help thinking about how I was the underlying cause of that panic, but let it pass by as I remember that hindsight is 20/20 on that matter. 

 

At that point, just before I left, I had also developed a pretty strong connection with Masky, Hoodie, Jack, and a few others, and felt like part of the group. Then, I also thought I was a Creepypasta, and had just recently become prepared to have to kill others to live as they have to. I was prepared to risk my life to save the CPs as well. My relationship between Masky and Hoodie had also become a bit complicated- I thought I was just using them to get over my problems, and a bit of that instability of mind from losing my family and refusing to accept that I wasn't over them yet had made me lash out over the things that had been secretly bothering me. Later on, Masky practically confessed to me that he cared about me, and from there our relationship grew with only a few bumps along the way. 

 

I look down for a second at Hoodie. I remember that he had told me before I left that he had told me that he thought that he couldn't have as serious as a relationship with me, and implied that it was because others- like Masky- were better for me. I remember making him promise that if we were going to be friends, we would have to keep things cool between us- so nothing would be awkward- and we could really continue to be friends. I guess he has done a pretty good job on his part of staying friends with me, but then again, we haven't really talked way too much these past few days. Time seems to move slowly and so many things happen, that a day can feel like two or three in total with how busy everything seems to be.

 

I frown at the thought that we haven't seen as much of each other, and hope for more time together. As I think this, I take a second to look up at the ceiling, tracing the lines of paint with my gaze as I focus on sharpening it so I can spot the tiny details interwoven into the white, textured and cobwebbed area.

 

I do this for a few more minutes and almost fall back asleep despite not wanting to, but something startles me awake. I jolt a little as I feel Hoodie moving beside me. He pushes his cheek a little further against the side of my neck, tickling it with his breath. He then shifts a little closer to me and wraps his arms more securely around my hips for just a second, then wakes up a little more to stifle a yawn, then he just opts for crossing his arms and leaning into my neck.

 

 

He sighs and takes a large breath as he wakes up more, then lets it back out in a tired groan. "Wow, Masky... you  _actually_ smell nice- did you go  _visit_  (Y/n) this morning, like Jack said?"

 

 

I stifle a small laugh and murmur, "Well, I'm flattered that I smell nice. And yes, he  _did_  see me this morning." I feel Hoodie's eyebrows furrow against my neck in confusion, and he blinks open his eyes in brief shock for a second once he realizes the possibility that the person he is leaning against might not be Masky. Then, when he backs away a little bit and locks gazes with mine, he completely realizes who he was resting on and jerks his head fully away from _my_ shoulder instead of what he thought was Masky's.

 

 

His warm brown eyes seem stuck to mine out of pure shock, which I can still see glittering in them as his face rapidly changes color to a beet red in the span of a few seconds. I can't help but laugh a little as he opens and closes his mouth, looking for words to form what I already know is an apology, so I go ahead and wave him off. 

 

 

"Don't worry about it, you're fine. You don't have to apologize either, I'm the one that crawled in between you two earlier." He stops trying to flounder for what to say and confusedly looks past me at the other guys on the couch before noticing how my own body is splayed over both Masky's chest and his lap. "Sorry do you want me to move?"

 

 

He shakes his head. "No, you're fine. You don't have to move, I was just- well- surprised," he murmurs a little sleepily, but he is much more awake than I would be in his position. That's one of the things I like about him. No matter how sleepy he looks, he can wake up immediately and do what he wants to be done without a tiny bit of drowsiness.

 

 

Meanwhile, I stifle a particularly large yawn.

 

 

I laugh a little at his statement as he readjusts himself on the couch to face me better and leans against the arm cushion. He then crosses his arms and grins at me. "So... how did it go, then? I hope it wasn't too corny or anything- Jack and I tried to help him with it, but he's a hopeless romantic in the literal sense."

 

 

I look at him with slight confusion. "How... was what?"

 

 

He opens his mouth to quickly reply to my question but stops himself when he notices that I'm wearing genuine confusion on my features instead of what he is looking for: which I think is an expression of playful, mock innocence.

 

 

"...Wait, you saw him this morning, right?" He glances at Masky as he sleeps soundly behind me, then returns to looking at me.

 

 

"Yeah- we were hanging out on the balcony of one of the upper rooms." He slowly nods his head.

 

 

"So, did he do anything... you know- different than just normally hanging out with you?" He presses a little further as he turns his head, curiously trying to find out what really happened.

 

 

I quirk my brow at his statement and smirk. "Are you asking if we fucked or something?" I playfully ask, trying to pull a reaction out of him.

 

 

He jolts upright and his face, which had been recently recovering from his embarrassment minutes earlier, turns crimson yet again. He quickly averts his eyes and looks off to the side, then closes his eyes and vigorously shakes his head. 

 

 

"N-No, nonono- just  _answer_  the question." 

 

 

I try to hold in my laughter as he looks like he might blow a gasket, and somehow I succeed and replace it with a soft sigh before answering. "No, he didn't do anything really out of ordinary, I think. We just laid there and watched the sun come up until Slenderman telecommunicated with him and told him I needed to get my ass to Jack's room. Sage had woken up and was requesting for me to be there in some... more violent ways. But it's okay now. Why do you ask?"

 

 

I wait for a few seconds, and when Hoodie doesn't answer right away, I take a second to go back through what Masky said this morning to me and continue talking. "You know... I don't think he did anything  _weird-_ per say. But what are you implying? What was he  _going_  to- ....oh."

 

 

The conversation that I had been playing in the back of my head suddenly forms together. I must have been a bit sleep deprived and distracted to really notice what was  _really_ going on, but I  _definitely_ do now. The romantic situation, the way he was curled up next to me under the blanket, how embarrassed he was sounding towards the end when he said, "So... I was wondering something. It might be kind of a stupid question, but I think it might be a bit necessary." And just before Slender interrupted us he was actually saying, "Okay. Um, I'm not super good at this but will you be-" and then he got cut off.

 

 

He was  _totally_  going to ask me to be his girlfriend.

 

 

I feel my face flush a little, but it doesn't  _really_  surprise me, just shocks me a little. I just kind of thought it was implied that we were together, I guess, and even though we aren't really  _dating_ , I just assumed that we had already just taken the titles anyway. 

 

 

I unconsciously smile as I glance at him. I think it's kind of cute for him to take the time to make it official for me, and not to lead me into thinking that this relationship was just "fucking around" as I had called it when we had our big fight before, which was the same night I met Mira. I love that he actually remembered my feelings from before and understood what had actually bothered me: feeling like I was just using him or he was just using me. I appreciate that he got over his embarrassment about relationship advice and asked for help so that he could establish that this relationship between us is mutual, and also that he wants to commit to it a bit more.

 

"So... I guess I let the secret out?" Hoodie sheepishly asks from beside me.

 

"No, haha, I think I would have figured it out with a little more thought when I got some time, so you just prompted me into thinking about it. And I'm glad you did."

 

He looks at me with extreme guilt, then once he processes what I said, he sighs and nods. I see that he doesn't totally accept it as he turns his head away, so I place a light hand on his shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze. "It's fine, I swear. Come on, Slender said he would be cooking breakfast around this time, and I'm sure everyone's just too worn out to be down here earlier than necessary, so we should go see if we can steal something from the kitchen while it's hot and up for grabs."

 

He finally looks at me again, and his guiltiness melts away into the back of his mind a little more as he meets my playful grin. He nods, then peels the blanket away from us as quietly as possible and pushes himself up once my legs are off of his. He then stretches a couple of feet away and waits for me to carefully climb out from under the rest of the blanket. Once I do, I turn back around and tuck the blanket back around Masky's frame. 

 

As I do, I can feel Hoodie's eyes on my cheek, but when I turn, he quickly looks away to start walking towards the kitchen. I stare at him for a second, then look back at Masky as he soundly sleeps, and wonder about what expression he had on his face before he looked away. I then quickly follow after Hoodie so I can catch him at the kitchen door, and reach his back just as the door starts to swing shut again.

 

As we push through, the sweet smell of fruit, syrup, and the sight of waffles warmly greet me from the counter. I look up to see Slenderman waiting on the waffle iron to beep as he cuts up fruit with two of his tentacle-like appendages.

 

I give one look to Hoodie, who basically silently says to me "Hey, this was  _your_  idea," before nodding his head towards Slender as if following up by saying, "so get a move on."

 

So I sigh and creep up next to Slender, then lean a little forward on my tip-toes to catch his gaze.  _'Yes? What seems to be the problem?'_  He telecommunicates probably more because he is busy, and I can't help but feel a little bit surprised by it with my still slightly-groggy mind.

 

" _Sooooo,_ I was just wondering if you have anything to spare right now- you know-  _food wise_?" I ask as I sidle up to him with a shit-eating grin.

 

He turns his head to meet my gaze directly with his blank, expressionless face.  _'You have impeccable timing,'_ he says before looking at Hoodie. ' _Hoodie, please take (Y/n) and knock on the doors of all occupied rooms, if you would. And_ yes _, Ms. (L/n), I might have a separate portion of (fav. breakfast item) for you to return to if you complete the task I gave you in a timely manner.'_

 

I grin. "Yes! Okay. We'll be back. Okay, bye," I rush out as I whip around and take a few steps forward before grabbing Hoodie's hand and dragging him back into the other room with Slender's gaze bemusedly following us as we exit the room.

 

Once we are out of the kitchen, I stop turn to Hoodie. "So, who do we have to go to first?" I ask with light embarrassment over not knowing where to go and what to exactly do. I let go of his hand to let him lead, and he simply grins before moving to walk toward the connected hallway in the front right side of the living room. 

 

"We only need to knock on two doors per area, and the people inside will knock on everyone else's door. Just follow me and everything will be okay," he informs me as we pass through the hallway.

 

"Alright."

 

I follow him as he knocks on Jack's door, and then remember that Sage is down there. "Is he the one that usually wakes everyone up in this hallway?" I ask as he moves to the door at the end of the hallway. 

 

"Yeah, why?"

 

"Well, he is probably going to be busy with Sage and Lilly, so I think we should knock on one more, just to be sure."

 

Hoodie nods then walks to a door right across from the door to the basement and softly raps on it three times. We then move away from that hallway and back through the living room to go through a door that I remember Jeff coming through once that is on the same side as the hallway, but closer to the kitchen door.

 

I deftly follow Hoodie as he knocks on a few more doors, and we go down a pretty long, winding hallway until we get to a spiral staircase that goes up tot he next floor. There are rooms surrounding it on each side, and Hoodie knocks on every other door before climbing up the staircase.

 

I start to notice the gold patterns on the walls and accents on doors as we go along, and I realize that the house looks a lot more expensive here than it looks on the outside and in the living room.

 

We take a right and go straight instead of right at the next intersection, then we loop around a large square of rooms and other areas before coming back to the spot by the spiral stairs again.

 

"Okay, these are the last ones before we go over where my room is, but we should probably wait for these ones to get out of their rooms before leaving. They always complain that we don't 'make sure they are awake' so they miss breakfast. And, we can't say we didn't try if we knock again. You might as well look around some of the empty rooms over here to kill time. The room Masky took you to this morning is just around the corner. "

 

"Would I be able to hear them open the door from there?"

 

"Yeah, why?"

 

"Come with me- come talk to me. I haven't been able to talk that much with you without worrying about our next big problem, and now that Sage doesn't pose much of a threat anymore and I can take care of any real issues that arise with Samarin, I will finally be able to start settling down and get to know you guys a bit more. And I want to start as soon as possible." I grin as I meet his gaze.

 

He looks hesitant and glances down the hallway at all of the closed doors he just knocked on with a conflicted expression. Good at least I have him halfway there.

 

"Oh come on, it will be fine." He still looks hesitant. "Pleeeeeease?"

 

He accidentally catches my pleading gaze and playful expression, which melts his resolve again. "...Okay," he finally sighs with a light smile as my smile becomes contagious.

 

"That's the spirit!'

 

He laughs a little at my enthusiasm, then bemusedly shakes his head at me and starts walking down a hallway to our left near the staircase that we haven't been down yet. He leads me back into the open room that I immediately recognize, and I stop to look around the room while he passes me. There are ornate-looking gold swirls on a wallpapered portion that covers the lower half of the wall, and the rest is painted a base color of light tan. Around the room, the furniture has glossy, dark rosewood accenting the fabric, and everything in this room seems so fancy compared to the more home-y atmosphere towards the front of the house. It kind of reminds me of the study.

 

I notice that Masky had folded up the blankets from this morning and neatly placed them back on the bed, and just as I move to fix a wrinkled corner that seems out of place, Hoodie opens the balcony doors and sends a torrent of cool air rushing in. The cold air flows over my body, but it feels welcome against my warm skin for a minute, but after that, goosebumps raise up on my arms and legs. My teeth chatter for a brief second, but they stop as I look up in surprise as Hoodie holds his black, zip-up jacket out to me.

 

"Oh, no, it's fine-" I try to wave him off.

 

"Are... you sure? You're shivering now."

 

I suddenly notice the shaking get a little worse, and I wish I still had that bit of comfort from the heat of my skin being cooled from the air, where it was just  _perfect-_ but it is long gone.

 

I take it from his outstretched hand and put it on gratefully. He lightly grins as I cuddle up into it and stop shaking and turns back around. I follow him out onto the balcony and watch as his long-sleeved, gray shirt wrinkles a little in the wind, and as he leans his elbows down onto the railing and locks his hands together as he leans forward. I do the same thing as we both look up at the morning sky and out at the wide expanse of trees over the hills and valleys surrounding the house on this side.

 

"So you said you and Jack helped Masky pick the spot to ask me, so who was the one that ended up picking here?" I ask as I try to make light conversation.

 

"Oh... that was me. I come out here a lot- mostly when Masky is having one of his moods or I just need a minute to think. It's a lot prettier at dawn- especially in the summer- when the fog has rolled over the hills and has settled halfway up to the top of the trees. You can watch it inch around the lawn if you pay enough attention, and when the sun comes over the hills over there, the light settles on the fog and it looks blurred lines of soft yellow and white replace the shadows of the trees, and you can see every ray the sun makes."

 

I easily visualize everything he describes as I look out, and once he is done talking, I deftly mutter, "Sounds really pretty..."

 

We look out over the horizon and up at the clouds before moving our eyes down to follow the land again a few times in comfortable silence, but after a few minutes, it starts to get a little uncomfortably quiet.

 

"So, do you have anybody that you would bring up here to ask out?" I tease him and poke his shoulder.

 

He stiffens up a little, then shakes his head pretty quickly. "N-no way... well... not right now, anyway."

 

"Oooooh, who is it?" I lean forward a little to try and meet his gaze. He blushes as he accidentally catches my eyes, then he snaps his gaze away.

 

"N-nobody."

 

"Alright, fine. If you won't tell me, then just  _describe_ her to me. What do you like about her?"

 

He looks a little uncomfortable, so I back off a little. "I don't think..."

 

"Aw, come on. I probably will never guess- I mean, just how many people do you think I actually  _know_ around here?"

 

He bites his lower lip and his made-up mind seems to be wavering, so I give him another pleading look that he locks eyes with, which makes his argument fall through in his head.

 

"...Fine..." he sighs and rolls his eyes a little playfully.

 

"Okay! You can just do personality or just describe the things you like the most about her then. You don't have to go way into detail or anything."

 

He nods, then looks out at the trees again and thinks of what to say. He places his head in his right hand and props it up, then folds his other arm down so his forearm is on the railing. He then takes a breath as he closes his eyes and visualizes what I'm assuming is her before he starts speaking with his eyes still closed.

 

"Well... she is... energetic sometimes, but she can also be pretty insightful and cool. She doesn't care much if she is surrounded by guys or girls, and she usually can talk with just about anyone, which is something I  _definitely_  can't do, which is what I like about her. Um... she likes the things I like food-wise, and she likes the same people that I like. But I think the things I like most of all about her is how she just... when things get tough, if she falls down- even into the darkest places- she gets right back up and finds something to  _do_  about it. Her perseverance and drive are incredible and very admirable." He then opens his eyes and looks out again.

 

I take it all in for a second then ask, "So, what is stopping you from telling her all of these things? I'm sure she would love to get with  _you,"_ I giggle and punch his arm a little, and he lightly smiles, but it falls a little flat, and I suddenly feel a twinge of worry. Maybe I'm pushing it a little too far? Maybe something happened to him like what happened to Jack? I have no idea.

 

"It's.... not that  _easy_. I, uh, stepped back and let her move on to better things, and she wouldn't want to be with me right now." I simply listen this time so I don't make him upset, and he notices that I'm worried when he looks up at me for a second, so he turns his head and continues. "I know you're thinking that if I like her, I should get over it and just walk right up and ask her out, but I just can't right now. And... I guess that's alright. It's hard to face, but it's alright." He lets out a long sigh and leans a little more forward before danging one arm off of the railing and keeping his other laying down on it with his head resting on it.

 

"Would you have stepped back to let her move on if you knew that you would feel like this?" I hesitantly ask. He seems fine with answering, albeit a little sad.

 

"....No. But in hindsight, I didn't know everything that I would be fighting for, that I should have fought for, but it's too late now. So... things will just stay the same and hopefully a new opportunity presents itself later on, but as it looks right now, nothing's going to happen, and I think that's going to be one of my biggest regrets." 

 

I nod, then leave things to silence again until we both jump as one of the doors we were listening for bangs shut. We both turn around, then quickly make our ways back to the hallway just in time to see someone dragging themselves down the stairs. After him, the other few doors open almost at once, and more groggy CPs shuffle out into the hallway and down the stairs towards breakfast.

 

"Alright, well, I think it is time for you to go get your special helping of food for this. I'm going to go get the people near my room and stay there- I'm not super hungry anymore."

 

I look at him and silently nod, then watch as he starts to walk down the hallway to our right again. I watch him all the way up until he goes to turn down his first left, which is where he surprisingly stops and turns back to face me.

 

"I... I'm sorry for that. I didn't mean to break our promise... but I couldn't help it." He looks at me for a few seconds as I process what he just said, but before I can, he turns the corner and walks out of my sight.


	56. Severance

A/n: Excuses warning. So I have not been writing as much as I thought I might be able to this past week of my break. I've got a major art project to finish by the end of break and a couple more for Physics and Psych, and I'm going to be out of town next week so I can't bring them with me, and I've been sick with some shitty flu symptoms so I'm slow and can't hear very well, plus I can't go five minutes without hacking shit up. It's gross. Okay I'm done there. BUUUUUUUT getting to be able to bring you a chapter today is pretty much a feat in itself, and hopefully I will be able to finish my drawings and shit in time. But I like writing on this so whatevs. Hope you guys enjoy, and I might be able to see you next week, but I'm not sure yet. :)

* * *

Last time:

 

"Would you have stepped back to let her move on if you knew that you would feel like this?" I hesitantly ask. He seems fine with answering, albeit a little sad.

 

"....No. But in hindsight, I didn't know everything that I would be fighting for, that I should have fought for, but it's too late now. So... things will just stay the same and hopefully a new opportunity presents itself later on, but as it looks right now, nothing's going to happen, and I think that's going to be one of my biggest regrets." 

 

I nod, then leave things to silence again until we both jump as one of the doors we were listening for bangs shut. We both turn around, then quickly make our ways back to the hallway just in time to see someone dragging themselves down the stairs. After him, the other few doors open almost at once, and more groggy CPs shuffle out into the hallway and down the stairs towards breakfast.

 

"Alright, well, I think it is time for you to go get your special helping of food for this. I'm going to go get the people near my room and stay there- I'm not super hungry anymore."

 

I look at him and silently nod, then watch as he starts to walk down the hallway to our right again. I watch him all the way up until he goes to turn down his first left, which is where he surprisingly stops and turns back to face me.

 

"I... I'm sorry for that. I didn't mean to break our promise... but I couldn't help it." He looks at me for a few seconds as I process what he just said, but before I can, he turns the corner and walks out of my sight.

 

* * *

 

 

I stare at the place he was standing in as if there is a ghost of his presence that still lingers in that spot. I don't know what to feel; if I should feel awful that I was the cause for some of his pain, or sadly grateful that he is willing to move on from this. A part of me wishes I never got involved in relations with him and Masky, but my heart twinges at the thought as if to tell me that no matter how much I had wished it didn't happen, I would have gradually fallen into the place that I stand right now yet again; the sunlight littered hallway that is elegant and beautifully decorated, but filled with silence and desolation that hang in the room like a dense and suffocating fog. In the environment and atmosphere, I can't help but feel lonely and forget its haunting beauty.

 

Trying to shake away my negative emotions, I turn on my heel and stalk back down the hallway as I try to look forward to my extra helping of food waiting downstairs for me, but much to my chagrin, my stomach seems to have tied itself in knots and refuses to allow the thought of food to sway it into untying itself. I huff out a breath and make my way down the spiraling staircase with a frown glued to my face. I try to divert my thoughts to focusing solely on remembering how to get back to the kitchen, so the rest of the way there I let my droning thoughts take over and mindlessly walk down the corridors. 

 

I push through the North door of the kitchen without going through the living room door next to it first, only to see the door on the opposite side standing wide open now. Many people are slumped down into the chairs lining the table, and I take a second to see if Jack is there before walking fully into the kitchen.

 

_'Good morning, yet again.'_

 

I look up to see Slender peeking over his shoulder at me for a second before turning back to the stove. "Good morning, again." He seems to have noticed that Hoodie isn't with me anymore, but doesn't make any move to ask about him as he silently watches over his work.

 

_'I assume you are here to collect your reward. Please wait in the corner over there, and I will cook it fresh for you.'_

 

I simply nod as I move past him and seat myself at the table in the corner of the room. It wouldn't do me any good to put off eating today, as much as my emotions are making my stomach protest, and it wouldn't really hurt to take my food with me just in case my stomach decides that bacon might loosen it back up a little. I prop my elbow up onto the table and lean my head into it with another sigh. I close my eyes and listen to the light chatter of the other room to drone out my thoughts, but I don't pay too much attention to what everyone is saying, just the sound they all make together.

 

"You look like hell."

 

My eyes snap open as I realize that I was falling back asleep against my hand and that Jeff has jerked out a chair from the other side of the round table and plopped down into it. He hooks his legs over the arm of the chair and leans sideways, holding the tip of a medium-sized switchblade between his chapped lips.

 

"That's rich, coming from you," I lightly snicker.

 

He rolls his eyes, and it looks a bit painful against the scars around the remains of his eyelids, but if it is, he doesn't show it. "How are you all holding up?" He lets go of the handle of the knife and allows it to hang in his mouth as he crosses his arms, looking at me with slight curiousness, but mostly nonchalance.

 

"Good, I guess. I had to deal with Sage this morning, but I haven't really been able to see Lilly. Or Mira. I saw her last night, but I haven't seen her this morning. I was going to go down and see my sister after Slender gives me my food, though. Mira might be around here _somewhere_...." I trail off as I start thinking out loud, and Jeff just stares at me as I set my head back into my hand. 

 

"Okay, just wondering. I was told to wake her up this morning, but she wasn't in her room, so I thought she might be with you."

 

I shrug, and Jeff just twists his knife around in his mouth with a little jerk of his shoulder in the form of a mocking shrug. We both look up as the door coming from the living room swings back into place.

 

"Who are you talking about?" Jack asks as he makes his way over from the door. We both straighten up and move to make a little room for him unconsciously. He sits down in a chair between the two of us and crosses his arms on the table. 

 

"Mira. She wasn't in her room when Jeff went to get her for breakfast," I softly reply. "Has she been with you?" He looks dead tired, and his skin looks a bit lighter than usual. I guess last night added to this morning has really taken a toll on him, but when I think of how I feel in the moment, I feel just about as rough as he looks from what has been happening lately.

 

"No, she hasn't been down at all since she took her leave last night. I will need her soon, though. Lilly seems to be having some trouble waking back up." He looks back up to me and sees my fear-stricken face so he hurriedly says, "All other aspects are fine, I just might need to have her around to help her wake back up quicker. Her vitals are good, and she is on the right track to full recovery- healing wise." He relaxes a little when most of the fear in my expression fades.

 

"Way to go, nerd. Talk much?"

 

"Shut  _up_ , Jeff," Jack lightly snaps as he squints at Jeff in a bit of a pout. I laugh a little at the two as Jeff raises his nonexistent eyebrows in response and kicks at the arm of Jack's chair so it screeches across the floor about an inch. Jack looks like he might want to kill Jeff, who greets him with a daring smile at his expression, and I find myself laughing a little harder as they both stop for a second, then slowly look up to see Slenderman glaring down at them while holding my plate of bacon as well as a separate plate with sausages, eggs, and a biscuit. They both smile sheepishly as Slender continues to glare at them while slowly setting the plates down on the table in front of Jack and me.

 

_'For however many places along the arms or legs of the chairs you break, that equates to the amount of places I break along your own arms and legs. I am tired of replacing these. Do you understand?'_

 

They both nod, then watch Slender walk back to the stove again before relaxing and breathing again. They both glare at me as I try to stifle another snicker, but I find it hopeless and let myself laugh a couple times at the two as I stand up, then turn to speak. "So, haha, where are you two off to? I'm going to visit Lilly."

 

"I'm going back downstairs to keep an eye on Lilly and Sage. So I'm stuck with you."

 

"I'm going into the dining room- I just stopped by to grace you with my presence. You looked like you needed it." I roll my eyes as he laughs a little at my deadpan expression then gets up. "So I guess I'll see you guys later," he contentedly sighs, then lightly jerks his hand up in a poor excuse for a wave, then walks around us and heads into the dining room. Slender goes to follow after him a few seconds later with five large plates of food to take helpings from and bids me farewell with a small nod of his head.

 

Jack and I then make our way out of the kitchen, and I notice that everyone that had been on the couch has gotten up now to go eat or to go back to their rooms from what I can assume. Jack walks ahead of me, and I notice the slightly worried expression he has on his face as he peeks toward the stairs leading to the second floor rooms. I follow his gaze as he moves into the hallway, but I don't see anything, so I just follow after him instead.

 

When I round the corner, I see that he has already headed down and left the door open for me, so I move inside, lightly shut it behind me as I balance the plate on top of my other hand, then walk back down the steep flight of stairs after him. I can hear him softly talking to someone, and as I round the corner, I'm not surprised to see him talking to Sage, but I  _am_  surprised to see her holding onto Lilly's hand as she lies silent on the operating table.

 

"Has she been by yet?"

 

"No, I still haven't seen 'er- nobody 'as come down 'ere matching your description." Sage looks down at Lilly and squeezes her hand. "She's been doin' just fine- no lapses in breathin' or nothin'- only silence." Jack furrows his brows and looks a bit troubled as he peers down at Lilly at her response, then tries to erase it as he notices that I have entered the room. He looks at me, but my eyes are not on him, they are on Sage's. When her gaze meets mine, she gently releases Lilly's hand and moves to get up, then turns away from me with a look of what seems like extreme guilt. She takes the plate Jack has out of his hands and starts walking over to the bedroom half of the room. "I'll be over here," she murmurs.

 

Jack glances at me, then after her with conflict in his expression, but then sighs, and waves me over. I sit down in the chair next to Lilly that Sage had been in, and look down at her face. The left side of her face has stopped bleeding, but a large bruise rings around her eye and pushes over her cheek to bleed out around the skin on her neck and the side of her head in purples and light greens. Other than that, her breathing seems fine, I think, and she seems to be in no pain as she lays there. I glance back at Sage as she eats her food in the corner behind Jack's bed, facing away from me.

 

"She's been watching over her all morning- since you left, really. Wouldn't go lay down to sleep, wouldn't talk much, just wanted to sit and wait by her side to take care of her. She... she means no harm, as you can see, and I know that it really bothers her that she hurt you and couldn't save Lilly before. But she thinks she doesn't deserve to be here with me still. Or to even see you two again, I think."

 

"I could understand why..."

 

Jack glances back as I return my gaze to Lilly. He looks at her with worry, then glances at the side of my face and opens his mouth to say something, only to close it and open it a few times. I look up at him after he does it about three times, and he looks a little shocked for a second, before he sighs and opens his eyelids again to look down at me with a calm, yet still conflicted expression.

 

"I have something to tell you. I... well... let me ask a favor, first."

 

"Sure."

 

"Could you search for Mira? I know Samarin can usually look for energy types that belong to people, and I just want to make sure of something."

 

I quirk a brow at the request and look up into his expression with a silent question on my own mind and also with concern. I just nod lightly, then I close my eyes and squeeze Lilly's hand as I search around the premises for Mira's familiar energy. I feel for energy in the rooms first, then all around the house, then in the area outside. My breathing picks up with every second of searching until my eyes snap open as I reach the mile-wide border in looking and still don't find her. 

 

"She's not here. Not even a recent trace." A twinge of anger works its way into my expression.

 

"Sage... said the same thing. I have another favor to ask. I imagine, with Mira being Mira, that she has gone back to her house to retrieve some of her herbal concoctions. She seems to prefer using those if she can help it, but at a time like this, when she _knew_ -" he stops himself, and I look up questioningly. He sighs, closes his eyelid and grips the table so hard, his nails scrape along the metal and make a noise that grates on my ears for a moment as he grits his teeth.

 

"What is it? What is going on?"

 

He opens his eyes again, with dark conviction in his expression this time. "Lilly, after the surgery, slipped into a state of deep unconsciousness. Mira thought that it would be best if we let her come out of it naturally so that her body would be prepared for her mind to start working again, and for her to be up and moving around again. However, she has become more and more unresponsive, and she has now slipped into a coma. I need her to be here so she can pull her out or find the primary issue associated with this result. We don't have the necessary equipment to house a person stuck in a coma. I would normally be okay after an hour or two, but she has been gone since early this morning."

 

I suck in a large breath. I glance at Lilly, then shoot up out of my chair. "Sure, I can contact Slender and ask him to take me right after breakfast is over. Actually I'm going right now. She, this isn't  _like_  her... why..?" I confusedly mutter to myself at her absence. Jack moves to get out of my way as I pace next to the table for a second, then stop and look at Lilly. I run a hand over her soft, undamaged cheek, then trace the tip of my finger over her closed eyelid with deep concern etched into my expression. "I'll be back, Lil." I turn to look at Jack, then glance at Sage and catch her eyes just before she jerks them away, so I return to Jack's gaze. "Please take good care of her while I'm gone. I don't want her to have to die again if her condition is deteriorating as fast as you say it is. She could stop breathing at any second and I don't want to have to put her through all that again and again-"

 

"I can watch 'er... if that's okay. Jack is going ta be busy preparing for the worst case scenario so I'll be able to stay by her side. If worse comes to worst, I know how to do CPR and how to speed up the process of getting her back to life again. I wouldn't dare try ta hurt 'er, or want ta. Despite what you might think about me, I still really care about th' kid." Sage stands with as much confidence as she can muster, which doesn't seem like much as it is overshadowed with her desperate expression, showing her need for repentance. I press my lips together worriedly, then shift my eyes to Jack for reassurance, who lightly nods- already knowing my silent question of it is safe.

 

"Fine. Please, look after her as if you are me. I'm going to try and trust you with this."

 

I look Sage dead in the eyes, and I can clearly see that determination shines through them. There's no hint of malice in her expression, but I unconsciously go to check if the path between Amy's energy and hers is still wide and clear- which it is. I hesitantly move my hand away from Lilly, then glance at Jack, who wishes me luck with one look before I turn and walk back up the stairs.

 

It doesn't take very long to go back through the hallway, through the living room, then into the kitchen again. From there, I see that everyone is still eating, and Slenderman has joined all of them at the very end of the table. He seems only halfway done with his plate, but I bury whatever politeness I have and lean against the doorway, reaching out to try and contact him through mindspeak. He stops raising his fork halfway up to his open, jagged maw to stare forward for a second in confusion, then slowly raises his head to look at me.

 

_'What seems to be the issue?'_

 

_'Sorry to interrupt, but Mira has left the house and Lilly has slipped into a coma. I need you to teleport me to her home, or to tell whoever can to help me get there. This is urgent- Jack doesn't have the supplies to take care of her and-'_

 

_'You are quite right. This is a matter of emergency. I will escort you there myself immediately. I hope that any conflict or matter that may have led to her departure may be remedied, and hopefully I may expedite the process even if it seems to be something trivial.'_

 

I nod and move back away from the doorframe as Slender scoops up his plate and cleans up his section of the table before looking at Masky and a few others to- I'm assuming- ask them to clean up while he is gone. He then meets me in the kitchen and places his dishes in the dishwasher before turning back to me.

 

' _Is there anything you wish to bring with you?'_

 

_'No. But I might need to take a bag of my stuff back here so I can stay with Lilly until she is better.'_

 

_'Understandable. I will prepare a room for you immediately once we return. Now let us leave.'_

 

Slenderman stretches his long-fingered hand out towards me, which I take without hesitation and close my eyes as the room around me pulls at my skin a little, then the sounds around me snap away to be replaced by the sounds of the trees rustling in the late morning wind. I feel his hand curl around mine a little more as the steep ground below my feet sends a few rocks tumbling down the slope, and I open my eyes to realize that we have teleported to the hill leading down to her house that I went down that first night.

 

' _Would you mind if I teleported us the rest of the way down? I had not realized this location was so hazardous.'_

 

 _"_ Fine by me- ...wait."

 

I squint as I peer through the dense trees leading to the small rocky area where Mira's house is, and when I can't quite see what I thought I noticed moving in the trees, I go ahead and enhance my vision. As I search along the trees again with Slender staring at me with a questioning air about him, I ignore him as I spot someone moving along the trees. A part of me wants to call out to them, thinking that it could be no one but Mira, but the better part of me keeps my mouth shut and continue watching.

 

I can tell that they are a woman with short-cut, pin-straight hair that curls in to grace over her shoulders. She tucks it back behind her ear as she hikes a small satchel up on her shoulder and stalks around the edge of the pool. She has a smaller frame like Mira, but her hair is almost white. As she turns, I can spot the creases in her face from my distance, and her eyes are a light hazel color from what I can tell- not the bright blue that I am looking for. She seems to be carrying something over her shoulder on top of her bag's strap, but I can't make out what exactly it is through the trees, however my mind is still stuck on the entirety of her.

 

' _Who is that?'_ I mostly ask myself, but Slender answers.

 

_'I have never seen someone like that in this forest. Could they possibly be a Samarin?'_

 

I furrow my brows and go to check if I recognize the lady's energy even though she has moved out of our line of vision, but as soon as I do, a piercing scream fills the air. The both of us stand in shock as I recognize that the voice belongs to Mira, and without a second thought, I'm racing down the slope towards the general direction of where it came from, but I can't be sure because my mind was focused on honing my eyesight over my hearing. I jerk my eyes around as I land on the rocky area, and see that Mira's door has been left ajar. 

 

 _'Allow me to search the house. You keep watch outside for now and try to track the direction of the woman we just saw.'_  I jump as Slender appears beside me for only a second to tell me that, then disappears again to check inside the house. I focus on the direction the woman headed to, trying to follow if there is anything she may have used in the environment to leave a trace, but nothing seems to be left behind. I check all directions, but I can't seem to find any trace of her- as if she just disappeared into thin air. 

 

"Where the fuck could she be?" I wonder out loud, and try to check for Mira's energy on the same token, but I can't find any real trace of her either. I start to panic as my eyes flit all over the area surrounding the house. It seems too bare- too quiet now. I search all around me to frantically try to find her, but I come up with nothing.

 

"...(Y/n)." Slender calls to me from inside the house, and I can tell that something is wrong by how he is using his regular voice, and how much it quivers. I rush inside at his voice as I see him holding up a small note in his pale hand. I run forward to stand next to him, but as soon as I do, I wish that I had stayed outside.

 

The kitchen counter we stand next to has blood all over it, and in the middle of it all is one of the same dainty fingers that I remember would handle everything with such gentility and grace that it almost seemed impossible. And it has been horribly broken and ripped off of the hand it used to be attached to. Slender covers my vision of the bloodied, mangled finger with the note, which I take and turn around to read.

 

It's crinkled, but the handwriting is legible and in elegant looking spirals of cursive. And I grit my teeth as I read it's message:

 

' _Time to break things off. Nothing personal.'_

 

"This  _has_  to be some kind of sick fucking  _joke,"_ I angrily mutter as I accidentally let the note slip through my fingers, where it joins the blood that has freshly dripped onto the floor from the rouge-stained countertop.

 

And the only sounds left in the room are be the soft, ominous dripping noises of Mira's blood crashing against the floor, and my own rapidly beating heart in my chest.

 

* * *

 

A/n: I think the recurring theme in this story is: just when you think everything is going right, it takes a hard fucking left into a brick fucking wall.


	57. No Chap. 2nite

No chapter tonight. I wasn't really sure last week if I would have a new chapter because I'm trying to actually relax plus I can't take my computer on the beach PLUS I'm still working on my drawing project with the little free time I have. I miiiiight post a picture of it once it's done before I turn it in, but eh, I don't know. Sorry I'm leaving you on a cliffhanger, but we'll get thrown back in next week with more content. We're nearing the big finale here, so I have to handle these chapters with precision and care and stuff, so just please understand, and hold on for me! Thanks guys, and I'll see you next week! :D


	58. Without a Trace

A/n: Still didn’t get much writing done on vacation as I wanted to. I planned to do as much as I could in the car driving back home, but I had severe nausea and a migraine practically the whole way and eventually ended up getting sick on the way back. So all in all it was a _really_ fun drive haha. I was also really sick today and ended up going home early. Falling asleep apparently meant sleeping for five hours, though, so that’s why this is a little shorter of a chapter. But anyway, I hope those of you who were on vacation from school at the same time as me had a good time off as well, and I hope all the rest of you enjoy the chapter.

 

AND I think I might be temporarily changing the update schedule to **every other Wednesday** because I’m going to have to crack down on studying for all of my AP exams. But I’m going to think on it until next Wednesday then post a proper reminder directly to the story (For AO3 you guys already get my updates in chapter form, so you guys will see this directly on the story anyway).

 

* * *

Last Time:

 

The kitchen counter we stand next to has blood all over it, and in the middle of it all is one of the same dainty fingers that I remember would handle everything with such gentility and grace that it almost seemed impossible. And it has been horribly broken and ripped off of the hand it used to be attached to. Slender covers my vision of the bloodied, mangled finger with the note, which I take and turn around to read.

 

It's crinkled, but the handwriting is legible and in elegant looking spirals of cursive. And I grit my teeth as I read it's message:

 

' _Time to break things off. Nothing personal.'_

 

"This  _has_  to be some kind of sick fucking  _joke,"_ I angrily mutter as I accidentally let the note slip through my fingers, where it joins the blood that has freshly dripped onto the floor from the rouge-stained countertop.

 

And the only sounds left in the room are the soft, ominous dripping noises of Mira's blood crashing against the floor, and my own rapidly beating heart in my chest.

* * *

 

As I stare at the door and face away from the spattered countertop, I hear Slenderman’s mouth ripping open. A part of me wishes that he would change back into his human form so I can at least feel as if I have someone I can better relate with standing next to me, _knowing_ that they are experiencing the same emotions as me, however the severity of the situation requires him to stay as threatening as possible and his tone of voice makes up for what his blank face lacks. “I assume you were unsuccessful in tracking that woman, yes?” he asks with heavy seriousness and a hint of anger directed outwardly towards the situation.

 

 

I grit my teeth at his question, feeling angry at my incompetence even though I am really unable to do anything about it. Fortunately, my silence is enough of an answer for him as he shuffles past me and scours the room.

 

 

I watch as his head swivels and takes in the scene- following his gaze to the four corners of the room and looking for any sign of a trace that we can follow. My brain switches on that defense mechanism of replacing the heavy emotions weighing down on my mind with the analytical part of me so I can protect myself from the strain again, and really I can’t thank it enough. My eyes then move to continue following after him again and I sharpen my vision to help see anything small that might pass just under his radar.

 

 

Oddly enough, besides the counter being mucked with congealing blood and the finger resting brutalized in the middle of it all, nothing seems to have been touched. Even the blood spattering seems to be suspiciously bound only to that single part of the room, and not even a drop of blood has been flung from a distance of more than two feet away from the end of the counter. I quirk a brow at this. All of these things lead me to believe that Mira wasn’t struggling against the person who ripped off her finger- not before, not while her finger was being ripped off, and not even after it was gone. I entertain the possibility that she could have been knocked out when the assailant did that to her and immediately look over to the table she stores all of her collected herbs on- looking for any sign of her being busy and turned away from the door, unaware of an impending attack.

 

 

The table is covered in the ever-present mess of jars and thick bundles of plants, however nothing seems to be out of place from what I can remember. I look towards her fireplace next and search as thoroughly as I can, but I come up with another blank. My mind drifts toward her possibly having been in the basement going through the icebox or something, however I strike off that possibility as the assailant would have alerted her by climbing down the ladder and would also have to carry her all the way back up to take off her finger.

 

 

I clench my fists again, but jump as Slenderman slams his hand against the wall. He is visibly livid and his expressionless face even lets onto it with how tightly pulled his facial muscles are under his white skin. I can understand his frustration with the situation. There are no leads to go off of beside the brief glimpse of that woman we saw exiting the building earlier and we have no way of knowing what the hell she actually could want with Mira- seeing as she was the only one up here besides her to our knowledge. Not to mention, there is most likely another out-of-control Samarin lurking around these woods to deal with, which poses yet another threat to the CPs but also disrupts the quiet of the forest, which is something that seems to oddly get on his nerves a lot more than I thought it would. But even without that, just knowing that there is someone out there with the mentality of Sage's purely evil personality is just another cherry on the shit-pile right now.

 

 

I turn back around and stare into the mess again as I feel my mind start to slip back into its emotional state and find the note again. Blood has seeped into the corner of the paper from it having landed on the far edge of the puddle, and I pick it up by the corner again. I hear Slenderman shuffle towards me as I place it on a clean part of the table and look down at it, following every loop and curve of the elegant lettering.

 

 

I can tell he is staring down at the puddle, and while I stare at the note, I hear him take a breath to say something, so I look over my shoulder at him.

 

 

“I believe Mira may have come to collect something, however she did not have enough time to perform it despite rushing to get back. The temperature in the room seems to be far too cold for what its normal temperature should be- seeing as the area near the basement is considerably warmer even for being a lower level room, and her fireplace seems to still be smoking from dying embers that should have maintained a base-level temperature. The door seems to have been left open- revealing her position hidden among the foliage to any intruder, and by the amount of congealing in the blood, this seems to have happened near 45 minutes to an hour ago, so our prime suspect would have to be the woman we saw. No traces have been left behind by the assailant to give me any clues as to where she seems to be going, however from fibers left near the pool you are standing near, it leads me to believe that the large burlap sack that woman had been carrying over her shoulder had Mira concealed within it, and she placed her in it after having set her unconscious body on the counter and removed her finger there.”

 

 

I stare blankly at the counter for a second before setting my hands on the clean part and leaning into it, curling in on myself as I try to bottle up all of the rage that is coursing through me. From how it looks, it was _child’s play_ to take Mira from this place, and after having seen what she can fight like, I now know how dangerous that unknown woman could be if she could sneak up on Mira and take her out. Seeing the naïve side of Mira reminds me of myself a little, I think- from before I knew anything about this hidden world I’ve been thrown into which is an endearing quality when she displays it to us along with some deep wisdom about the world I know nothing about, so we trade information. And of course, seeing that naivete being taken advantage of by some random bitch is _infuriating_ , because all roads lead back to when Sage and I first had the _pleasure_ of meeting and how she took the advantage of knowing more about the world around me in order to use it against me. I don't want anything like that to happen to Mira, but then again, she knows a lot more than I think she lets on, so she could handle herself a lot better now than I ever could back then.

 

 

“If you would like, I would be more than happy to aid you in finding this assailant. I can organize a search party of the most experienced trackers and scour the forest in the meantime- possibly with you at my side for assistance in tracking energy use or familiar traces. We do not know the reason for this kidnapping, however it seems to have been premeditated or done by someone Ms. Leori knew judging from the message written upon that scrap paper. We also do not know what that person wants to do with her, so it would be best to find her as quick as possible.”

 

 

I continue to stare down at the counter and think. Of course, almost every part of my being is itching to get revenge upon whoever thought they could waltz in, torture a friend of mine, then have the audacity to leave as cheeky of a message as that behind... but I have more time-sensitive things to attend to at the moment. Lilly is slowly dying on that table back at the safe house, and if we don’t go get the necessary equipment to house her there, she will have to be stuck in that hellhole of a house trapped down in the bottom of the ocean again. Of _course,_ I’m torn between saving Mira or saving Lilly, but in my mind, Mira is much more stable of a person to handle her attacker in my mind and would want me to save Lilly first, because we are biding our time.

 

 

Dying over and over again, seeing the world for the shit-hole it is, being stuck in a recurring nightmare of reality, and learning that you are helpless against being fucked over by life repeatedly will undoubtedly drive Lilly to quickly grow up to face the music, and she may start to believe it would be easier to end the recurring loop and to try and find something more- something less painful beyond the path of life she has been forced down. There is only so much hope that a person can have before they are driven into submission.

 

 

All I want is for her to be able to live a little longer and know that not everything in life is as cruel as what she has been through. I want to give her that hope again before she decides what new path she wants to take. I won’t force her to stay, but I want to give her a chance at life with all I’ve got because that is something she deserves in the very least.

 

 

I sigh and close my eyes, my mind made up but my nervousness still making me feel wrong about having to make a choice, albeit it being necessary. I slowly open my eyes again and glance at the blood for a second before looking away towards the other wall before opening my mouth to speak. “...As much as I would love to have a search party out there narrowing all the possibilities of where that bitch took off to with Mira, I think that would be a bad idea. Even if they _could_ find her right away, don’t you think that the only person that could have snuck up on Mira and have the balls to do this was a Samarin? Wouldn’t that be dangerous to involve others who might not be able to match their abilities with their own experience?”

 

 

He nods, searching the ground for a solution to both issues. I can tell that he is entertaining the possibility of sending Sage after her. It makes sense to come to that possibility- with her being a capable Samarin that seems to be docile _right now_ , but with her reclusive, wild-card behavior that she has exhibited in the past, he is not the only one to feel wary about sending her to go on a rescue mission. “I presume someone will have to keep a watchful eye trained on your sibling, so Ms. Veretta will be preoccupied with that...” he murmurs- trying and successfully finding a real excuse as to why she needs to stay in the house instead of us just saying we don’t trust her at all, even though she definitely already knows that.

 

 

“I think our time seems to be running short with Lilly right now. Mira’s first priority must have been to come here and search for the items she needed to bring back in order to help Lilly get back to full health, and that was our first priority in coming here- to get her back so we could heal her quicker. Right now, I don’t want to make Lilly go through dying again with how fragile she must be after having dealt with so much trauma. Jack said he needs more than a few things around just in case, so I think it would be best to head back as soon as possible, then once we have the necessary supplies, I think we could head out and stay out for as long as we need to. It would be too much of a risk to send people unprotected out there without the senses of a Samarin to fight fire with fire and be as careful as possible in doing so.”

 

 

He mulls over my words for a few seconds, then nods his head again. “I believe you are right. In all of my dealings with Mira, I know that she will return after death without being too dearly affected, and I understand from previous encounters with her that she is able to manipulate any cell in her body, which includes receptors of pain. If anyone dares to torture her, they will find little enjoyment or fulfillment in it. That does not mean we can afford to waste time, however. I will give these items to the trackers I have mentioned and see if they will be able to get any scent or trace off of them that we can follow with their guidance and our supervision later on. In the meantime, I will assist you and Jack with obtaining the medical supplies you need as quickly as possible. Once we are done, I will have a group ready to help us search for Mira and we will be able to leave immediately.”

 

 

I turn and meet his gaze, then give him a firm nod in affirmation. “That sounds like a good plan. While you are... collecting evidence, I’m going to grab some necessities from my room and we can leave. I can drop my stuff off at the house once we are done, and I can get Jack while you leave the evidence with your trackers. We can rendezvous at the front door.”

 

 

He immediately moves to stand near me on the other side of the pool of blood, leaving my gaze for only a second to search the stained counter again before murmuring, “...Then let us begin.”

 

* * *

A/n: I know it's pretty short, but like I said, I have been really under the weather lately and just needed to rest and recuperate- but maybe I did a little more than I planned. I had about half of this done, but I hit a little bit of a block with this earlier. I know where this is going and what I want to do, but I haven't been able to throw around ideas on what needs to happen much lately. This is still a crucial chapter for evidence- don't get me wrong- I just wish it could be just a little longer for you guys after not having updated in a while. The new chapter will be up next week though, and I will decide if I need to limit updates to every other Wednesday to decrease some of the stress and free up some of my time in order to get some hard studying in. But in the meantime, I hope you enjoyed and I hope to see you guys next week, where I will hopefully stop being so frickin' sick haha.

 

 

 


	59. Abscission

A/n: So I have decided that updates will be **every other Wednesday starting now**  for the time being until my preparing and taking finals is (haha) _final_ ly over. Until then, I hope you will bear with me and stick with me. We're so close to to the end looking back at how far we have come, and I can only hope that you guys will continue to stick with me and support me through the stress and the hard work I put into this. I appreciate you guys so much, and hope you enjoy the story, and I hope to see you guys with a new chapter the Wednesday after next. :)

 

* * *

Last Time:

 

He mulls over my words for a few seconds, then nods his head again. “I believe you are right. In all of my dealings with Mira, I know that she will return after death without being too dearly affected, and I understand from previous encounters with her that she is able to manipulate any cell in her body, which includes receptors of pain. If anyone dares to torture her, they will find little enjoyment or fulfillment in it. That does not mean we can afford to waste time, however. I will give these items to the trackers I have mentioned and see if they will be able to get any scent or trace off of them that we can follow with their guidance and our supervision later on. In the meantime, I will assist you and Jack with obtaining the medical supplies you need as quickly as possible. Once we are done, I will have a group ready to help us search for Mira and we will be able to leave immediately.”

 

I turn and meet his gaze, then give him a firm nod in affirmation. “That sounds like a good plan. While you are... collecting evidence, I’m going to grab some necessities from my room and we can leave. I can drop my stuff off at the house once we are done, and I can get Jack while you leave the evidence with your trackers. We can rendezvous at the front door.”

 

He immediately moves to stand near me on the other side of the pool of blood, leaving my gaze for only a second to search the stained counter again before murmuring, “...Then let us begin.”

 

* * *

Time Skip:

 

My feet make soft thumps against the creaking, wooden ladder rungs that lead up to the first floor of Mira's house. Just as I thought, everything had been left untouched downstairs and still, the only place giving any sign that foul play has taken place is on the kitchen counter. My nails dig into the ragged wooden grain as I furrow my brows in frustration and try to climb as fast as I can. The faster we get the necessary items to keep Lilly alive, the faster we will be able to get out there and get Mira back. I worry my lip as I think of how helpless she could feel, however- just biding her time until she can find a way to escape or to be rescued. Even after going over this in my mind a thousand times over in the past half-hour, I still feel incredibly uneasy about leaving Mira out to dry at a time like this- but if I look at it strategically from all angles and remove all of my emotion, the only reasonable decision is to cover our bases with Lilly first, then get the healer back.

 

I scoff. Sardonically, I remind myself of what Slenderman was like back when he was just "David Silveira"- putting personal goals before powerful emotions and obligations to friends. I instantly shake off the thought. It's ridiculous to think that anything that might happen to Mira will be all my fault just because I was putting my _sister_  first. I know that I've been through something strikingly similar to what she must be going through, and I remember the traumatic experiences I went through quite vividly, but there is nothing that we can do right now to get her back that would not be putting even more defenseless people at extreme risk. 

 

As I crawl up out of the hatch I sit beside the ladder and sigh, putting my hand over my cheek and closing my eyes for a second.  _God_ , this stress is hitting me hard. I throw my hand back down to the floor to help push myself up, then unconsciously dust myself off as I stand up and look towards Slenderman, who is already staring at me.

 

"I have successfully sealed away the evidence. Might there be any other thing you wish to take with you before we take our leave?" He turns to face me fully as he speaks, and I look around the room for a second before shaking my head and silently walking over to him. My eyes glance at the rust-colored edges of the rouge puddle for only a second, a knot in my stomach forming before I can jerk my eyes back to him.

 

"No, I'm ready to leave now. Will you leave me just outside Jack's room when we go back? Like I said before: once I briefly explain, I'll go ahead and meet you in the living room by the front door."

 

He silently nods, and I notice out of the corner of my eye that three small bags hang from one of his tentacles, which deftly sways behind him as he reaches towards me and softly grips my shoulder. I hastily look around the room to make sure everything is secure again before closing my eyes and signaling to him that I'm ready.

 

The sense of urgency and slight uneasiness that he seems to be hiding makes itself known as I'm forcefully ripped away from Mira's room, and it leaves me stumbling a bit with tingling skin as my feet slap onto the smooth hardwood floor near the basement door. I hear him murmur a soft apology before snapping away from me again, but I disregard analyzing the jarring aspect of the switch and opt for throwing the basement door open instead.

 

I fly down the stairs as fast as possible only to be greeted by the shadowed forms of Sage and Lilly. Sage is standing over Lilly with a protective and uneasy look on her features that lasts only for a second- her eyes glowing almost like fire as she glares at me before her expression switches to surprise and she eases back. I stare only for a second at her before throwing my bag beside the doorway and shuffling as quickly as I can over to Lilly- ignoring Sage's presence for the sole reason that the last thing I need right now is to be worrying about Sage possibly being a threat.

 

I search Lilly's face for a second, unable to resist checking up on her as my ruminating thoughts try to overpower my stable mind with repetitive worrying. I can hear Sage open her mouth and take a breath to say something, but she closes her mouth and steps back a few feet before folding her hands in front of her with a conflicted expression, deciding to leave me alone. My eyes flick up to hers as I come to the conclusion that Lilly is still okay for now, and I slowly rise back up to my full height from having been bent over Lilly.

 

Sage's eyes glisten with anxiousness and she tries not to fidget before she takes a breath again and closes her eyes for a second, then opens them along with her mouth and begins to speak. "Jack is upstairs in the training room. Lilly hasn't moved once since you left, but her breathing, heart rate, and pupil dilation seem to be regular and healthy."

 

I move my eyes back to Lilly and I sigh. "I have to go back out again with Jack to get equipment for Lilly. Mira is MIA right now, long story short, so I need you to keep as close of an eye on her as possible.  _Can_ you do that for me until we get back?" My eyes shine dangerously as I meet Sage's expression. She senses my dulled animosity and the threatening tone in my voice, unconsciously furrowing her eyebrows at my reflexively condescending tone, yet disregarding it with a look of understanding that catches me a little off guard.

 

"Of course," she firmly replies.

 

"...Good. I will be back later then." I take just a brief second to analyze her expression and look her up and down for any sign of her wanting to back out of this or hurt even a _hair_ on Lilly's head, but I don't find anything besides that same annoying, worried look. That doesn't mean that I'm just not going to be wary of her entire existence as well as her close proximity to the only person I love that is left from my old life, however.

 

I try to fight the urge to look back at her over my shoulder as I turn and rush back up the stairs, and I somehow end up succeeding as the door bangs shut behind me. I let out a soft breath that I didn't realize I had partially been holding in as I start heading towards the training room to get Jack. Any anxiety that I still have about leaving Lilly with Sage gets shooed to the back of my mind again as I reset my mind to get back on track.

 

My hand finds the knob and throws it open easily. For a second I can't seem to find Jack amongst the weapons, but I finally spot him in the corner to my right as he bandages a person sitting on the mat in front of him with a long gash running down his dark-skinned arm. The patient notices me before Jack can, and I barely analyze his shifting black and white mask that reminds me of the Tragedy Masks symbol of the theater before my eyes snap to Jack's crouched figure.

 

"Jack, something's come up. I need you to come with me."

 

His face jerks towards me, surprised by my presence. He only looks at me for a second before he turns back to bandaging his patient's arm. "What happened? I can leave in just a second- just let me finish this-"

 

"Mira's been kidnapped."

 

The young man in front of him hisses in pain and reflexively jerks his other arm out towards Jack a few inches as he pulls the bandage way too tight around his arm. His mask has shifted to an expression that leaves the crescent mouth and eyes at sharp, jagged angles on the white portion of its surface, and I can't help but notice it as I nervously twitch with anticipation of leaving.

 

"Who...?"

 

"We don't know who, but we know they are a Samarin and what they look like. But right now, all we know is that if we don't get Lilly stabilized, she may slip even further into that coma, and the best form of action to take right now is to get her the things she needs so I can leave with a group to go out and find Mira. We might need my abilities to take the kidnapper out."

 

Jack holds up a hand to stop my rambling, then takes a breath and continues to hastily yet efficiently wrap the patient's arm all the way. Once he is done, he looks him in the face, then nods his head towards the door, which prompts him to get up and leave the two of us in the room.

 

"...How do you know she was taken?" I warily try to read his expression, but he stays crouched and looking towards the opposite wall, his tone dark. 

 

"We saw a woman leaving her house when we first got there, but she didn't see us because we were obscured by the trees. We went to chase after her, but it was like she just took off without leaving a single trace... save for one thing..." Jack eyes me expectantly, his expression firm and dark. I open my mouth, then close it as the hard pounding in my heart from adrenaline trying to get me moving reminds me of my situation. "Come on; I'll talk while we walk."

 

He stares at me for a second, then complies and pushes himself up. I then hastily turn and move towards the door, finding my voice again. "We think Mira had been knocked out, then set on the kitchen counter for this, but the kidnapper... ripped one of her fingers off to leave it for us along with a note. It read, 'Time to break things off. Nothing personal.' _"_

 

I hear Jack's fist hit the wall behind me and don't even flinch as he growls a string of swears that I can't really hear. He breathes out hard a couple of times behind me as I turn into the hallway separating this one from the living room, and I can just imagine the lividity causing his expression to sharpen into pure anger. 

 

Suddenly he speeds up so that he is right next to me, matching my brisk pace. "You're right. We need to get the supplies ASAP and get back to look for her. Who knows what that psycho is doing do her now..." His head moves slightly to the side and I can tell that he is looking away in thought- trying to debate with himself if that  _actually is_  the right thing to do. Before I can think about what I'm doing, my hands are on both of his shoulders and he is lightly bumping into my chest from walking straight into me from where I stepped in front of him. Instead of jerking back, he stays there for just a second with his cheek barely brushing mine, then he slowly moves back to meet my somber, yet firm gaze. "If we keep thinking about it, we'll never get anything done and it will waste precious time. You know that I've thought about it over and over to come to this conclusion, so I'm just asking you to put your faith in me in saving our friend. Put all that worry on me for now, okay Jack?" I softly murmur into the space between us. 

 

He presses his lips firmly together, trying to make up his mind, then he finally closes his eyelids and sighs. He places a light hand on my shoulder, prompting me to let mine slide off of his, and then he looks up into my gaze again and exhales a shaky breath as he nods.

 

"Good. Now let's go."

 

He lets go of my shoulder and allows me to turn and start walking in front of him again, and I can hear him following closely behind. I nibble at my lip with nervousness as we come into the living room, but Slenderman is patiently waiting here for us while talking to Jeff. The both of us make our way across the room, and Jeff quickly notices us while Slender is facing him; looking towards the door.

 

He lightly waves, then gives a slight nod of goodbye to Slender and goes through the front door. Jack pipes up from beside me as he sees my curious look and simply says, "He has to go hunting tonight so he is just checking in with Slender before he leaves." I hum lightly to let him know that I heard him as I watch Jeff hike off into the forest from the clearing in front of the house through the window. Before my mind can go off on a tangent imagining how he would kill and who he would go out to kill whoever he needs to, Slenderman turns around and steals my gaze.

 

"Are you prepared to leave?"

 

The both of us nod, the question being almost redundant as we step closer for him to put his hands on our shoulders. Slenderman only firmly grasps our shoulders in response, and I quickly close my eyes as I begin to feel my skin being pulled at from teleporting.

 

It stops in an instant and it goes very smoothly, however, the stark contrast of the warm air inside of the house compared to the cold clamminess of the hospital air against my body makes my skin crawl. My eyes snap open at the feeling, and the sight along with the smell makes my nervousness and creeping dread worse. The lights are dim and scarce, illuminating the endless stretch of hospital rooms with a ghostly blue. The shadows the gurneys and benches in the hallway cast seem like they will rise up and take form above the grimy-white-colored tile, which makes me unwittingly shudder.

 

Jack breaks the atmosphere a little by walking forward towards the double doors at the end of the hallway, but the way the sound of his footsteps echoes off of the walls and down the corridor makes me quickly move to stay close to him. I glance back to Slenderman, who is sitting in his human form on a bench that was behind us. I nods his head towards the door at the end of the hallway and says, "That is an old equipment room we commonly use to replenish our stock of medical supplies. Once you collect everything that you will need, return to me and I will bring everything back through multiple trips. This wing is abandoned, so do not worry about being caught. Now go on."

 

I respond with a slight quirk of my lips downward as I hear Jack push against the metal plate of one of the double doors at the end of the hallway. I hastily move to catch up to him eyeing every patient room on the way with a sinking fear that someone will pop out of any one of them and drag me in, slaughtering me just like Jeff will most likely slaughter someone else tonight, and hopefully not like that woman might slaughter Mira while we work.

 

My stomach twists at the thought, but I suck it up as I face Jack when I catch up to him, waiting for his instructions on what to find.

 

Time Skip: (evening)

 

Jeff's POV: 

 

My clothes feel heavy and sticky with blood. Normally it would be a welcome feeling, as it would usually still be warm, but with the cool air of fall breathing down my fucking neck, it ruins everything. So now it only feels like a hindrance on my body. Even my shoes squeak with blood against my heels as I walk along the forest path, and a part of me is a bit on edge with the Rake being out of his usual area and lurking around.

 

Who  _knows_  where that fucker likes to go now.

 

I growl at the nervousness roiling in my chest and slide my tongue across the Santouku knife I picked up from my hunt. Thick, coppery-tasting blood blooms from the tip of my tongue back across my taste buds and over my teeth. Now  _that's_  a welcome feeling. My lips quirk up into a small natural grin against the silver blade as a tiny drop of blood leaks from my lips and down the side of my cheek, but it isn't as nice as usual due to the air once again turning it corpse-cold faster than BEN could probably cum.

 

Which is _saying_ some shit.

 

I step over a large patch of moss that squishes in harmony with the sole of my shoe and I almost laugh. That sounds exactly like the sound a brain makes when you throw it on the-

 

“Ah, excuse me, I am looking for a resident of the Slenderman Safehouse. Would you happen to be one?”

 

" _Jesus, shit_ -" I jump, shocked by the appearance of someone behind me from out of fucking  _nowhere_. I whip around and try to hide my fear, but try even harder when I notice that the person who so  _rudely_  interrupted my stroll back to the house and my glorious alone time is some old, bitchy lookin' lady.

 

The muscles above my eyes dig in towards the space above the bridge of my nose in confusion and distaste at her presence. Her expression is sweet, however, and she looks like nothing more than a lovely little old lady, which just confuses me even more.

 

"Uhm, do you live at Slenderman's mansion?" she repeats. She seems to be fearful of me from how she jerks her eyes to the blood covering me, to my face, to the knife in my mouth, then back to my wide-eyed stare with a very troubled and anxious expression.

 

Her fear breaks me out of my daze and I allow a smirk to grow on my lips as I take my knife out and hold it at my side. "Yeah; ...what can I do for ya?" I purr, liking the fact that she knows nothing about me, yet she seems  _absolutely_  frightened of me. The crow's feet lining the skin around her eyes crinkles a little to form talon-like shapes as she forces a small grin. My smirk grows and I relax a bit, leaning back into a tree behind me with a small "thump".

 

I hadn't really noticed her sneaking up on me, which is fucking weird, but I guess it doesn't matter with how slow she looks due to her age. I could probably kill her and gut her in ten seconds flat- but there's something that makes me think that wouldn't be quite true. There's something in her eyes, literally and figuratively. It's familiar, but not so much that I recognize _how-_  it just gives me some weird sense of déjà vu that just makes them seem creepy.

 

First of all, they're a brassy-gold. Sure, a lot of Creepypastas have weird fucking eyes, but there is just something so natural and yet  _super_ unnatural about them at the same time- like they were always  _meant_  to be that color, and yet she is the only one who ever looked like that and shouldn't have them naturally at all. All of the other CPs have eyes that you can tell were either marred, scraped out, replaced, or just dead, and they were obviously changed to something else for a reason- but hers look so hauntingly natural that they are actually... _somehow_... is setting me on edge. But only by the  _tiniest_  bit.

 

She looks uncomfortable with my patient waiting, so she speaks quickly and with an odd tone that rises and falls at a jerky, panicked pace; like the dying breaths of someone on the verge of bleeding out. I listen intently. “I-I was told to give one of you this notebook and this, letter. It is addressed to Slenderman, but Splendorman told me to inform you and your peers to read this letter _in addition_ to Slenderman, as it contains information that pertains to all of you as well, and it is of dire importance that this is read as soon as possible.” She cautiously reaches her hand towards me, and I calmly take it from her without breaking eye contact with her.

 

Once I have the small notebook and the letter back my me, I finally look away from her to glance at the things in my hands. One is a leather book about half of an inch thick that seems to be a diary of some sort. I twist it around and see that there are some calligraphic gold letters on the front cover embedding the name "Amy" into it. I look at it with slight humor in my expression.

 

"You sure you didn't just give me your diary?"

 

She purses her lips but shakes her head, finding my amusement inappropriate, not that I care. I sigh and allow my hand with the book and the letter to fall to my side. I look up at her and try my best at giving her a somewhat reassuring look. "... Sure, yeah, I can read it to everybody before he gets back. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if I got everybody together and started without him to get things rolling quicker," I softly murmur, finally answering her request.

 

She grins and closes her eyes as she nods her head in light affirmation- showing her true gentility and frailty together in one simple gesture. I feel a bit off-put by how genial she seems for being a shitstain Creepypasta like me. I scrutinize her expression as her eyes stay closed while she grins. I'm guessing that there's something that is hiding just under the surface of the rosy and wrinkled cheeks making up her expression, but she hides it so well that not even  _I_ can spot it.

 

Whatever. Not like it matters.

 

I write all of it off as she turns halfway around to face away from me and mutters a soft "thank you" that graces over her thin lips just as gently as if it were the same light breeze blowing through the forest around us.

 

"No prob," I murmur as I watch her slowly walk off into the trees again almost like more of a ghost than an actual being. I shake it off and roll my eyes. This is fucking stupid. That was fucking stupid. I better get my stupid ass back to the house so I can read this stupid fucking letter that's so stupidly important.

 

Fuck. I need some goddamn beauty sleep- that hunt was  _tiring as fuck_. That, or I need to get another kill in, but I'm so _close_  to the house now.

 

I yawn loudly and begin my hike along the dusted path through the forest again, entertaining my mind with the possibilities of what could be in the letter and why Splendorman had a diary with the name "Amy" on it.

 

I guess I'll find out soon when I read it to everybody when I get back. It must be something serious, but I can only guess as to what the fuck it could actually be for right now.


	60. Aperture

A/n: Hey guys! I know it has been a while since I have last posted a chapter, but I really am glad that I made the schedule how it is. Last week I took four tests, Monday I took a math test, Tuesday and Wednesday we had standardized testing throughout the school, Friday I have to pack for and go on a field trip to a play, Saturday I have a four-hour mock-exam, and on Tuesday of next week, I'm having my first AP final. And all throughout this time, I have had to work on yet _another_ _drawing_ , so that is due Friday, and I'm just- UGH- stressed out. BUT I have happily written this chapter for you guys, so you don't have to listen to my complaining anymore! Shit's going down again so it's a thicc chapter and I hope that you will like it. Hopefully I will get to see you in two weeks, but I have no idea how much time I will have until we get there. But oh well, I just hope you enjoy- shoot me a comment sometime so I'm not too bored, will you guys? :)

 

* * *

 

Previously: ( Here's a little recapping so you don't have to go all the way back and search)

( From Amy's Diary )

David's mind manipulation was not weak as he had said. With his ability, he could take the abilities of others. He could take them and use them all for himself and give portions to whoever he wanted as well. But he had to kill the original host to take it. And now he has my mother's ability. He could come to me in any form, in any shape, in any way. He could be himself or he could pretend he was Ryan. And he would do it. He would use my mother's ability to control the shadows and to change his entire body makeup to come to me as my worst nightmare because all I am to him now is a pawn to scare into submission before I die.David's mind manipulation was not weak as he had said. With his ability, he could take the abilities of others. He could take them and use them all for himself and give portions to whoever he wanted as well. But he had to kill the original host to take it. And now he has my mother's ability. He could come to me in any form, in any shape, in any way. He could be himself or he could pretend he was Ryan. And he would do it. He would use my mother's ability to control the shadows and to change his entire body makeup to come to me as my worst nightmare because all I am to him now is a pawn to scare into submission before I die.

...

I'm sorry. Is that you? I can hear you knocking on my door. Mom? No, Ryan, I have to go, you're here to kill me. I mean David is. Take my ability, you will have killed me for nothing. Pure hatred. Pure love. I loved you. And you destroyed me. Now watch me destroy you.

(From David's letter to Amy)

The hatred of the Samarin has pushed them to where they are murdering any Creepypasta they find, and so we believe it is our duty to protect them- for you (Amy). I cannot see that I will ever truly fulfill your wish, however my brothers and I shall try. As penance for the great atrocity, I will devote my life to what you once were, and what you once stood for. With much love and sorrowful regret, David Silveira.

* * *

 

Time Stamp: Evening

 

Your POV:

 

I drop the heavy portable IV pole and stiff hospital bed mattress I have in my hands with a huff, then stretch my arms over my head and pop my back. I survey the stack of bedside instruments and supplies we have gathered in the middle of the hallway with a satisfied look, knowing that I only have a few more things left to carry out here so Slenderman can save his energy teleporting the stuff to the house in one trip. My eyes flick up instinctively to look at him to see if he is ready, realizing that I haven't checked up on him in a pretty long while. I fully expect to see him patiently waiting, so my eyes almost move away from him without taking too much in, but the little they do end up taking in is what makes me stop and look again.

  
  


Slenderman- in the form of David- is hunched over on the bench he originally sat down in with a piece of what looks to be neatly unfolded computer paper between his hands, violently shaking. I can't see his face, but what I have picked up from his odd behavior is more than enough to tell me that whatever is on that paper is obviously nothing good at all. My feet shuffle towards him with a couple of hesitant steps as I try to decide if he truly is shaking or it’s a trick of the dim light, then they end up slapping against the tile as I jog towards him from the pile halfway between him and the double doors of the supply closet.

  
  


David doesn't even look up when he sees the tips of my sneakers enter his field of vision, he just continues to lightly shudder as he stares blankly into the heart of the creased paper. I gently try to work the thing out from between his fingers and surprisingly he lets me take it, then he continues staring holes into the floor in front of him with his body paralyzed in the same state.

  
  


I silently skim over the note, and slowly my eyes start to widen as I catch onto keywords that make me realize their importance, which urges me to start over from the beginning.

  
  


_‘Dearest David,_

 

_I think it's about time that I notified you that you’ve lost. This whole time you have stayed blissfully unaware of just who I am and what I've been planning for years, but today is the day that your world comes crashing down. You have gone unpunished for too long, but today is the day of reckoning. My name, or the one you might be more familiar with, is James. If that doesn't ring any bells, I'm an old and faithful friend of Amy's. I'm the only one who knows exactly what you did to her that was just a bystander in that whole situation, and only until now I have watched from the sidelines. She was the best thing in my life, and most likely in yours, but you stole her from me, so I'm taking everything from you- no matter how long it has taken me to get to this point. I’ve been watching, experimenting, waiting for the right moment to strike, and getting to the point where I can predict your every move and decision. So right now, you are most likely sitting inside of a hospital hallway or room, waiting for Jack and one or two others to gather medical supplies for that brat, and as you are reading this, your ‘family’ is reading about Amy._

 

_About what you did to her._

 

_About the monster you really are._

 

_You broke your loyalty to the only person who put you and your brothers first, caring for you more than she cared for herself even to the bitter end. So the question is: just how loyal is your family towards you? Will they break it just as easily as you broke yours?_

 

_And will they try to murder you in cold blood too?_

 

_Eagerly awaiting the outcome,_

 

_James’_

 

My eyes continue to stare wide with shock as I feel the paper crinkle softly in my hands, my brain trying to process it all for a second. I assume that is what David is also doing- trying to figure out what exactly he should do now that he has nowhere else to go. The CPs at the house could react in so many ways: they could mutiny and overthrow the Silveira brothers' supposed "rule" over them; some could try to understand, but others might try to attack him for lying to them; with how unstable a lot of them are, this kind of shock may just end up bleeding into the other houses and none of them will be safe in one anywhere. There are just way too many things that could happen that would completely flip how things are handled in these houses now. On top of all of this, there are still Samarin out there that could hurt the CPs, so the brothers would be leaving them defenseless if they left or were forced out.

 

"What do I do...?" he mumbles hopelessly. The same thing crosses my mind. I mull over it for a second before sitting down on the bench next to him and slamming the paper down onto the seat next to me. I look off down the hallway, thinking about what he can do next. Even though he committed those atrocities, he is not the same person as he once was. The people at the safe house should understand that because- from the impression I got from them- a lot of them have done something horrible once to get to the place are now- even if that includes acting in self-defense after being hurt emotionally or physically. Even so, there is too much of a risk of letting him come back right away.

 

"Is there any way you can contact your brothers right now that is quick?"

 

He shakes his head, "I could teleport to their safe houses, but that would put great strain on my body and mind, and I have no idea of where we could end up after I drop you off at the house, reach my first brother's house, take him to a safe place, and move to my second brother's house- due to my energy being depleted so much. We tend not to use technology, seeing as we do not want to have our identities tracked or recorded, so I do not have access to such things as their telephone numbers, emails, or IP addresses."

 

"If I was able to contact BEN, could he find someone there that he might be able to contact and put your brother on the line?"

 

"I am assuming so, however, based on his brash and usually hot-headed attitude when dealing with info that is even much tamer than this, I doubt he will aspire to help me in the slightest after this has transpired.”

 

I press my lips together in nervousness and deep thought, racking my brain with how we can find the safest route out of this. Part of me wants to analyze the letter, ask about his history with this person named “James”, and figure out if they know something that I don’t about what happened to Amy, but there is too much that has to happen first. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, clearing my mind of my questions then replacing them with the solutions to this problem we have.

 

"If I can contact BEN and ask if he can find a certain person in those houses that might have phones, then ask them to give their devices to your brothers, I might be able to have him make a group call between all of you so that you can get them on the same page. From there, all of you can teleport to a safe, most likely abandoned location, and hideout until things are fixed. I can give you my phone for now, it has all of the numbers you will need to stay in contact with, and I will be able to use anybody's cell to text you with and update you on the status of the safehouses. I can set up the call and you can pick up the location, and before you go you can drop us off at the edge of the trees with our stuff so no one sees you and we can get back on our own-"

 

"Why are you rushing around so much?" Jack asks and breaks off the end of my half-whispered sentence. He eyes David a bit nervously, and I realize that he was so focused earlier that he didn't notice that he had turned back into his original form.

 

"We've got a problem. Slenderman- David- found this letter. It says that the Creepypastas back home are learning about who he really is at this very moment, and that this person, James, has been stalking him for years, waiting to tear down his entire reputation."

 

Jack stands a bit dumbfoundedly near the pile of stuff we gathered, his face screwing up in both shock and worry. "What are you going to do? How do you even know that that letter is the real thing?"

 

I take the paper up from beside me which crackles in protest as I snatch it up to read it again. "It says, 'I’ve been watching, experimenting, waiting for the right moment to strike, and getting to the point where I can predict your every move and decision. So right now, you are most likely sitting inside of a hospital hallway or room, waiting for Jack and one or two others to gather medical supplies for that brat, and as you are reading this, your ‘family’ is reading about Amy.' I think it's legit. There's no way they could have known."

 

"Where did you even  _pick up_  that thing?"

 

David slowly raises his head which had fallen into his hands moments prior to look at him. "When (Y/n) and I found Mira had been kidnapped, we searched the house for any clues as to what truly happened. I had not told her this, but I found a letter addressed to me next to the pool of blood that belonged to Mira. I decided it would be best to read it later on when I was alone in order to make sure it was not something that I did not want others to get involved in. I am sorry for withholding this information from you."

 

I shake my head, waving off his apology. I get it, he just wanted me not to worry about another thing on top of all else unless it was key info- he couldn't have known it would turn out like this. "I said we should contact BEN and establish contact between him and the other brothers so that David doesn't have to punish himself trying to round them all up by teleporting so far away. Once they go, I'm going to update him probably using your phone to text mine, which will be with him. That way we can try to work things out as much as possible before they get back. We need to go back to Mira's house to get the letter he wrote to Amy which proves who he really is and coincides with how everyone has seen him act in living with him for however long." I stop and look at the supplies, then look back to Jack, who seems a little overwhelmed with this. "He is going to drop us off just outside of the tree-line and the rest will take place from there."

 

"We will not be too far away from all of you, so we can come to prevent you from being in any danger if a Samarin were to come to one of the other houses and try to attack them. I will be able to muster up a sufficient amount of energy and split it between all safe houses to be able to maintain barriers, however it will only last two days at the very most and I will be out of commission until then without my brothers there to channel that through them. You will not have very long to convince the house that I have changed for the better. And hopefully this is only a centralized conflict."

 

Jack and I nod. Jack steps a bit closer to us so he can see us better in the dim light, and I go ahead and take my phone out with a dreading look. "Let me talk to him," Jack states as he holds his hand out for me to give it to him. "I can convince him to get it to me if he is skeptical, and if there is a problem, you can always jump in." I nod and drop the small phone into his palm.

 

He goes through my contacts and hits BEN's, then turns and gives me a worried look that silently asks if I'm ready. I nod and gnaw at my lip in nervousness, hoping for the best.

 

 

At the House: (Thirty Minutes earlier)

 

Jeff's POV

 

"Alright losers, gather everybody into the kitchen. I've got a letter that you guys all apparently need to hear ASAP."

 

The front door bangs shut as I kick it closed, throwing my just the tiniest bit off balance as I wave the small white envelope in the air in front of me. BEN stays glued to the couch with a bored expression as he lazily looks through his phone, Masky doesn't tear his eyes away from the TV screen, and Hoodie seems to be preoccupied with whatever is on BEN's phone screen.

 

I huff and chuck the letter, sending it sailing through the air to smack BEN on his left cheek. He shakes his head in a slight daze, then growls and picks up the letter to throw it back at me, which completely misses me and hits the door behind me. I just lazily grin at him as he blushes in slight embarrassment as even Masky takes the time to laugh at his fuck-up. Ben rolls the red pupils in his black eyes with a shitty expression and huffs. I laugh and pick the letter back up between my pointer and middle finger, then twist it around in my hands for a second. It's a bit crinkled now, but the handwriting is legible and in elegant looking spirals of cursive that spell out 'For David'. I quirk a brow in confusion. I thought it was addressed to Slenderman.

 

"Who's David?" BEN asks without moving a single inch to get up and just goes back to his phone. "Is it somebody you're fucking in town somewhere? If so, why would you throw it at _me_?" he asks as glares at me from the corner of my eye. I roll my eyes.

 

"No, but it's probably Slenderman's secret lover. Some old bitch gave this to me- said it was from Splendorman. But this looks nothing like his normally bouncy, hard-as-fuck-to-read handwriting. Maybe she's a lover from another house- who knows, he might like gettin' into granny panties."

 

"Ugh, dude, that is absolutely disgusting," BEN murmurs in a revolted tone.

 

" _You're_ disgusting, so shut the fuck up! Go get everyone, she told me it was super fucking important or some shit."

 

BEN rolls his eyes again and huffs. "Fiiiiiine, I'll go to the kitchen."

 

"I'll go ahead and get everyone back down here. Come on Masky," Hoodie murmurs. Masky doesn't move, so Hoodie lightly shoves his shoulder only to get his hand violently slapped away.

 

"Quit it! I have to see if they find the lamb sauce first!"

 

"Oh, please...."

 

I snicker. "Masky you better hide that boner for Gordon Ramsay from Hoodie- he might get jealous."

 

Masky almost snaps his neck trying to look back and glare at me, but I'm already moving up the stairs to help Hoodie get everyone back down and to the kitchen. When I'm just barely up the stairs I hear Masky yell, "Oh, _suck my dick_ , Jeff! We all know you're closet fucking gay for BEN, so don't even start!"

 

"Sorry, Masky, but I'll leave that to Hoodie! And I think if I were a closet gay I'd be seeing you a whole lot more often, too." 

 

I hear his voice crack a little as he jumps up from the couch, most likely making shaking fists at his sides, then he huffs and I'm assuming he rolls his eyes, murmuring, "Ugh, fuck off," as he stomps toward the kitchen door. I can imagine that Hoodie is laughing, although I can't hear it very well, but I feel satisfied enough with the fact that I caused something actually fucking exciting to happen around here for once.

 

I go around and knock on all of the doors I go by as loud as I can, only answering with "Dinner, " if someone asks what the hell I'm banging on their door for. By the time I've changed clothes, made my way around all of the doors on the top floor, and headed down to the first floor, everyone has grouped at the table or in the living room so they can wait for the food to be ready. I simply wave for them to follow after me and into the kitchen when I go by, which confuses them but they do it anyway.

 

Finally I make it to the head of the table as everyone takes up a spot with confused looks being shot between everyone as they stare at an empty table. "Alright everybody, I've got a letter and a thick-ass book that apparently needs to be read _'as soon as possible,'"_ I boredly murmur and add air quotes to the end of the sentence. "I was told by a 'Pasta from Splendorman's safe house that this was super important and it would be best if it is read by everyone immediately as well as Slender, and since Slender isn't here, I don't think he would mind if we got on the same page so we can take action on whatever it is quickly or whatever.  _SO_ \- here you go, guys."

 

I flip the letter out of my pocket and slap the book on the table in front of me as everyone waits boredly around me, and to be honest I'd love to be back in my bed right now or eating just like they want to, but I at least have a  _tiny_  bit of respect for the guy that took me in, so I  _guess_  I can do this just once for him. It's not like this will cause problems anyway- he'd probably appreciate me taking the time to do this for him. 

 

I tear open the envelope with one stubby fingernail and slip the letter out of it, letting the paper casing drop to the floor next to me. "Alright, let's get this thing going. It says:

 

_'To all of whom it may concern,_

 

_All of you Creepypastas have one thing in common. Every single one of you has gotten here through the same types of horrible experiences: murder; rape; abuse; torture- something disgusting and unmentionable happened to you that in turn made you "snap" and become the being you are today. You all have another thing in common. Every single one of you depended on the generosity of the "Slender brothers" to heal, to be able to come back to a safe place every night, and to know the truth about what you really are now._

 

_But the question is: why would something or someone as powerful as them ever give a damn about helping you?_

 

_Think about it for a moment._

 

_By now you must know that I am not the person you thought wrote this letter. Forgive me for disguising myself, however I had to be careful in order to reveal this information to you. I know the true reason Slenderman has been helping you all this time- it was only to use you as pawns in a larger game. I witnessed his brutality many years ago firsthand. Innocent people died by his hands that led directly to you being forced to come back to safe houses every night- the Samarins' hatred for you. Every bit of evidence you need is in that diary before you. The explanation as to why all of you were rounded up by those men disguised to look different like you- David, Ryan, Matthew, and Alec Silveira- was to create an army designed to destroy an entire race of people: the Samarin. I wanted to warn you of what they are capable of before they destroy your life like they have destroyed mine in taking not only the only person I cared for, but also my friends' safety as Creepypastas. Their actions have led to Samarin such as I unable to choose between good and evil, unable to stop from hurting those we only ever wanted to protect, just as Amy, my closest friend, died trying to when your generous friend David, or Slenderman, stole every bit of life out of her to control you. To make you obey his every whim if need be. So look through that diary. Try to prove me wrong as much as you would like, however all the evidence you need to believe me is right in front of you. Again, please be safe- he is weak at this moment and will not use the abilities he stole from you under the premise that he does not want to hurt you, but why would you believe the person who has lied to you since the first second you met him?_

 

_Please be careful and good luck,_

 

_\- James’_

 

 The letter hits the ground and joins the crumpled envelope next to it, laying as silently and stiff as the people around the room. Every eye is on the book at the end of the table, lying alone and feared as if it is a cursed object that nobody wants to touch, but is still curious to see what might happen if they do. 

 

But for an entire minute, the only sound in the room is the hitched breathing of my friends around me and the soft scrape of two chairs as both Masky and Hoodie leave the room with dark looks on their faces that no one seems to notice, since we are too preoccupied with our thoughts and the shock of it all to do anything but stare for right now, or slowly feel the anger surging within us towards the person we trusted with our lives.

 

The last person we put our true faith in.

 

 


	61. Constricted

A/n: Another couple of weeks have gone by again and I have still remained busy as hell. AP tests were yesterday and the day before that in the afternoon, and I only feel good about one. I had mixed up schedules apparently with regular finals and then AP exams, so the last two I have are going to be on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. From there it's just final projects and stuff that I will need to focus on and one Honors class final that I need to finish until school is out, and then finally I might be able to get back and reread a whole lot of this to edit again. Hopefully then I might be able to work hard on the story and juggle my job and camping along with it, otherwise, I'm going to have to keep the update schedule this way. But we'll see when we get there. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I'll bring you another chapter in a couple of weeks. :)

 

* * *

Last time:

Your POV:

"We will not be too far away from all of you, so we can come to prevent you from being in any danger if a Samarin were to come to one of the other houses and try to attack them. I will be able to muster up a sufficient amount of energy and split it between all safe houses to be able to maintain barriers, however it will only last two days at the very most and I will be out of commission until then without my brothers there to channel that through them. You will not have very long to convince the house that I have changed for the better. And hopefully this is only a centralized conflict."

 

Jack and I nod. Jack steps a bit closer to us so he can see us better in the dim light, and I go ahead and take my phone out with a dreading look. "Let me talk to him," Jack states as he holds his hand out for me to give it to him. "I can convince him to get it to me if he is skeptical, and if there is a problem, you can always jump in." I nod and drop the small phone into his palm.

 

He goes through my contacts and hits BEN's, then turns and gives me a worried look that silently asks if I'm ready. I nod and gnaw at my lip in nervousness, hoping for the best.

 

Jeff's POV:

 

The letter hits the ground and joins the crumpled envelope next to it, laying as silently and stiff as the people around the room. Every eye is on the book at the end of the table, lying alone and feared as if it is a cursed object that nobody wants to touch, but is still curious to see what might happen if they do. 

 

But for an entire minute, the only sound in the room is the hitched breathing of my friends around me and the soft scrape of two chairs as both Masky and Hoodie leave the room with dark looks on their faces that no one seems to notice, since we are too preoccupied with our thoughts and the shock of it all to do anything but stare for right now, or slowly feel the anger surging within us towards the person we trusted with our lives.

 

The last person we put our true faith in.

 

* * *

 

Your POV:

 

The ringing of the phone buzzes through the space in front of me like a mosquito you can't spot and kill no matter how much you search the air. It's a dreadful tone to listen to, knowing the possible response that might come from the other end of this call, but it's necessary. I worriedly glance up at Jack, who simply stares at the now dark phone screen as he furrows his brows, no doubt trying to figure out just what he might say in response to BEN picking up the phone on the other end. My eyes then wander over to David's, whose own eyes flit from the phone to around the room in worried contemplation before returning back to repeat the process. I almost raise my hand to put it on his shoulder in reassurance, but as soon as I go to move, the ringing finally stops and I freeze.

 

We all stare fixedly at the phone for a second, listening intently to the person on the other end breathe for a beat before murmuring a barely audible, "(Y/n)?" It's so quiet that I can't even tell if the voice actually belongs to BEN, so I worry my lip in nervousness.

 

I glance at Jack, who looks back at me for a second then answers with a soft, "Yeah, it's us. Jack and (Y/n)."

 

The person on the other end pauses as their breath hitches in response and a few outside voices fade into the background on top of that, worriedly muttering words that seem unrelated to the phone call but nonetheless seem heated. The voices gradually fade as the person on the other end stays quiet and moves away from the conversing individuals before responding again. "Where in the  _fuck_  are you two? Is Slenderman with you?  _God,_ please don't tell me you are anywhere near this house. You have no idea what just went down-"

 

"We do, actually," I interject without thinking, but inevitably just roll with it. "Someone left a letter for Slenderman that was up at Mira's house when we went this morning. Nobody knows this yet, but she has been kidnapped by someone we think has been stalking Slenderman, of all people, and lying in wait to ruin his entire safe house operation. The kidnapper left us this letter signed ' _James_ ' and said that you would receive a letter of your own the same time as he was reading it, spelling out everything about Slender's past- uprooting everything. And we knew they were telling the truth."

 

"Wait, wait, wait. Mira is _gone_? And someone on the outside of all of this is doing this? Holy  _fuck_  none of this can get any worse. But you actually  _knew_ what was going on already? How and when in the fucking hell did you manage that?!"

 

"Long story short, when I was kicked out of the house and had little hope of returning, Masky, Jack, and Hoodie tried to dig up some blackmail so I might be allowed back in once my abilities were under my control again. This was because Slenderman was actually afraid that a Samarin might overpower him and possibly threaten all of your lives, which we didn't know until we dug deeper. We found out everything about who he really was, but we made a deal to keep it a secret after finding out that Slenderman- David- was actually just a Samarin playing a Creepypasta." I pause, the analytical part of me telling me that is a sufficient amount to sum it up for BEN, but I hesitate for a second. The emotional part of me refuses to stop at just that- there's so much more to the situation that I feel like he should know, and although I know it might waste time, my mouth continues moving before I can even think for a second that I want to stop. "But, BEN, everything- and I mean everything- that he has been doing has been to protect all of you- he's sacrificed his health, put his life on the line, stayed by your side to protect all of you from the other Samarin even though he could get up and leave you behind at any time, and he truly cares for you all no matter what you do. This is because he knows that what he did in his past that led to you guys being in danger was something he was powerless to change after the fact, but what he  _did_  have the power to do after that was to change who he was into the person he is today and devote himself to you all. And... and..."

 

I take a breath as I feel Slenderman put his hand on my shoulder, and I realize that they all have been intently listening to me. In a moment of clarity, I realize that despite my intention of keeping it short, my emotions on the matter spilled over more than I intended to when I started talking. I can't help it- and they  _know_  I can't help it, yet knowingly let me continue because how can someone just stick to "long story short" when there are so many important things- things BEN needs to know that I think should matter to him, because they deeply matter to me, and it also matters to me that David is treated fairly for the pain he caused and the pain he has endured. As a friend- as a past enemy- no, just simply as a being worthy of receiving true justice, whether human, Creepypasta, or Samarin. 

 

"I understand..." BEN replies. "I already know that he is a good person by heart- otherwise I would have hung up already. But the fact that he hid it from us for all of this time is what bothers me, and most likely all the rest of us. How would you feel if you found out that the person you trusted and cared for had actually been on the opposing side the whole time? With a lie like this, and our trust shattered, how can we _not_ think that maybe he never cared? That maybe not _only_ was he lying about who he really was, but also lying about ever caring for us in the first place? There are truly broken people here- PTSD ridden sonofabitches that have been abused and fallen prey to putting their trust in people- people that inevitably betrayed them and made them into who they are today. Those are the people that are struggling right now- angry and lost- finding themselves in a place they never thought they would see the darkness of ever again, although they don't see it might be an illusion. I'm one of those people who have suffered, but I've been here a long time. I have a close enough relationship with a Samarin- you- and an open enough mind to know that not all of them are bad. I also know that there's more to this story too, but I want so fucking badly to just be angry at him too. However... I trust your judgment on him (Y/n)- and you too Jack. I'm sure if it were an issue you would have found a way to expose him a long time ago."

 

Jack sighs and nods to himself. "You're right. I felt the same way as you do now- just think of how many times I've been stabbed in the back to be where I am now. Of course I would have said something if I felt I had to. Yes, I know the anger of finding it out and the wavering trust, but everything is hinging upon that trust right now- your own- in a situation like this. Mira has been kidnapped and Lilly could be dying, so we are hard pressed for time right now not knowing when something catastrophic may occur. So that brings us up to why we called. We... we called with the thought in mind to ask a favor of you. Slenderman, of course, can't go back to the house right now, and his brothers are in danger of getting found out at this moment. They are not the guilty ones in this, but this person, James, could very well make it seem that way if he shows the right evidence to their own safehouse locations. So we need your help to get in contact with the brothers. Slenderman doesn't nearly have enough energy to be able to share his teleportation abilities amongst all of them after all of the back and forth he has been doing lately, and he will also have to hold up the barriers for each house on top of that. Could you warn them all so they can meet..." Jack looks to David for the rendezvous location, and David simply takes the phone to speak into it better.

 

"Tell them to meet me at the coordinates of Mira's house. We will be able to use that as a vantage point and I will be able to be near all of you in case James or any other Samarin decides to attack. In addition, do you believe you can contact Masky and Hoodie to have them meet Jack and (Y/n) at the Southernmost edge of the mile border? They should need assistance in carrying this bedside equipment and I would also not like for them to be attacked for my mistakes only for the fact that they were with me when you became privy to the information I had hidden from you all for so long. They need to have access to the back door and the basement to get to Lilly as quick as possible without being seen for now."

 

"Yeah, I can get them out there. I think those two are in the basement with Sage trying to make sure that they see you as soon as you get back. Probably to tell _you_ to fuck off somewhere so you don't get killed. But yeah, I'll tell them and clear the way as much as I can. When will they get there?"

 

"Approximately ten to fifteen minutes. I will carry (Y/n)'s phone with me in order to stay in touch with her and be continually updated on the status of the house. We, indeed, are pressed for time here. I do not know how long I will be able to maintain these barriers."

 

BEN hums into the speaker in acknowledgment. "I'll get them over there as quick as I can, then. I'll talk to you later."

 

"Thank you."

 

And he presses the end call button. He then promptly drops my phone into his pants pocket and looks at us both. "I will take you both to Mira's house first. That way we might be able to find anything you might need in order to persuade the mansion that I did not intend to harm them in any way. I do not know the contents of the letter they read, so you may want to take a chance to read it when you get back in order to know how to disprove or explain the situation further regarding anything that blights my name right now."

 

I nod. Of course that is what we were going to do when we got back. I press my lips together in concern as his expression stays stonefaced but his eyes give away his anxiety. They continue to dart between looking at Jack and me while occasionally looking away again. I can tell that he is breaking apart every aspect of this situation in his mind, and can tell that we are treading on thin ice with time. My own mind wants to wander off on what could go wrong, but I don't know how much of this I can take anymore. I softly sigh, trying to get some of my own stress out of my system as the pang of a small headache starts to form and simultaneously I wipe my thoughts away for a second. There's no time to think right now, only time for us to move. I feel my eyes focus and darken as my mind loosely trains itself on what needs to be done, excluding my emotions for now.

 

"Alright let's go. We will come back in about ten or so if we can't find anything and then you can teleport us to the house. We won't have long."

 

"You are correct. So shall we leave?"

 

We nod, and in seconds the overbearing, chemical-laced hospital smell and its heavy aura of lingering death in the dim light leaves us to be replaced with the warmth of Mira's living room. I make a beeline to where I had left my bag full of Amy's things when I came back from my meeting with Slenderman. I grit my teeth, hoping with all of my heart that it is there. And just as soon as I get to the end of the kitchen counter where I left it, I breathe a sigh of relief. The bag Hoodie made for me is still there, hunched and crumpled into a tan heap. I bend and throw open the flap covering the opening, and to my surprise, her things really are still in there, save for the diary. I furrow my brows as my fingers immediately find the stack of notes that had been together with Amy's things, and that spark of hope flares up in me once again. The ribbon had been re-tied sometime after we read it- most likely by Hoodie- and at the very top of the pile is the letter I'm looking for. It's the one that stopped us from telling anybody about it before talking to him and the reason I actually have faith in him again: his apology. Not only did he express extreme remorse, but the date stamp on this correlates with the beginnings of the housing of Creepypastas for the sole purpose of protecting them. His personality shines through in this letter- the one only the people who spend the most time with him see- and it will inevitably prove to the CPs that this man is no different than most of them- living with the repercussions of his past mistakes and living every day being reminded of why he is there, trying to make up for them. 

 

I close my eyes and let myself lean back a little so my butt hits the floor and I can sit down for a second. A sigh of absolute relief leaves my lips, which causes Jack to immediately walk closer to me and ask what I found. I only hold up the letter in response, at which he takes it and stares at it for a second, the same solaced expression passing over his features for a second as I look up at him.

 

"We found it. This is great, now we will be able to explain to them what he really is like. Did you find the diary?"

 

"No, I'm assuming James took it and gave it to the rest of the Creepypastas at the mansion, since that is the main thing that incriminates him in the first place. But yes, with this, most of this understanding should be cleared up. They only got one side of the story, and with this and most likely with help from Hoodie, Masky and probably BEN, we might be able to convince them to forgive him enough to let him back in to protect us as he promised he would. That way he can explain to us himself who he  and his brothers truly are.

 

I shove myself up and off of the floor, then grab the bag full of Amy's things just in case. "Alright, how long has it been?"

 

"About five minutes at most."

 

"Okay, that should be enough time. We told BEN ten to fifteen minutes so if we get back to the hospital and gather up everything, then get it teleported quickly, we should be in that time constraint." I dust off my pants a little and take the thick stack of tied notes from Jack to put them back in the bag. We then walk back over to David as he studies all of the herbs on the table and gives us time to search.

 

"We found what we need. We're ready." 

 

He doesn't look up for a second, preoccupied with his thoughts as he studies the handwriting on the labeled jars: sweeping cursive loops that create intricately beautiful letters. He studies them a little bit too intently for a second before Jack clears his throat and knocks him out of his trance. "Alright, are you positive there is nothing else you may need?"

 

"Positive. This is it."

 

He simply nods and holds out his hands to us, which we both take before being jostled through the vacuum and back into the eerie atmosphere of the hospital. 

 

Rounding up everything doesn't take but a couple of minutes due to its already grouped nature, and before we know it we're being sucked across space again to stumble into the densely packed forest surrounding the house, Slenderman's nervousness gradually affecting his skills.

 

"I wish you both luck and remember to stay in touch with me. Please be careful. I'm counting on you," David murmurs as he jerkily monitors the trees. "I also cannot express just how grateful I am for you continuing to have faith in me through these trials, and I cannot thank you enough. Now return to Lilly. I will try to find any clues as to where Ms. Leori could be being held captive while I am gone. Now I really must leave you. Take care," he softly says, flashing us both a pseudo confident grin that we see right through before he teleports off again and out of sight.

 

I purse my lips and look forward through the trees again, imagining what hell must make up the interior of the safe house right now. But I only get to for just a minute before I hear the fast-paced footfalls of two people running through the trees towards us.

 

Seconds later, Masky and Hoodie burst through the trees to our right, having been running around the edge of the mile border at the Southern part most likely waiting for us.

 

I barely have time to register their presence before Masky runs into me and catches me in his arms without warning, burying his cheek into my neck as hard as he can without hurting me. " _God_ we were so worried," he murmurs. "It was without warning, and we were just waiting for you to come back with Slenderman, having no clue as to what had just happened- knowing that you could show up anywhere and be blindsided by angry CPs. The house is basically ready to organize an entire witch-hunt for anybody that could know where he is right now to get answers, and if they knew where you were they could-"

 

"Masky, calm down. I'm okay right now, and we have the letter David wrote to Amy. It's what we're going to use to prove to them he is the same person they think he is, he just had a rocky background like a lot of you guys do too. But for now, we need to get these things back to Lilly ASAP."

 

He begrudgingly pulls away, worry completely evident on his face, but he replaces it with resolve. "Yeah, that _is_ the entire reason you left. Here, let us help you with it all- the back door is open and the secret door to the basement is cracked so we can get in quick. Everyone is preoccupied with reading Amy's diary right now in the dining room so we have a straight shot in thanks to BEN calling them all back in towards that part of the house."

 

"Yeah and Sage is monitoring Lilly as well as certain parts of the hallway using her abilities. She is going to send us a message through the plants somehow if anything goes wrong," Hoodie adds.

 

I nod and start piling things into my arms while the others grab the rest of the things. And once we finally have it all up into our arms, we all give each other a dreading look before marching forward in the twilight towards an entire house betrayed and seething with rage, lying in wait for one careless step to lash out and go for the kill.

 

* * *

A/n: This is one of those chapters that is necessary for plot movement but isn't as fun or exciting as I usually like. Buuuuuut it just comes along with the deeper plot in this sometimes, and it's a bit mandatory to have. Hope you aren't disappointed in the lack of explicit movement or excitement in this chapter, but if you are, **I promise I will make up for it with the next chapter**. ;)


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